Book I. CHERRY. 725 



4569. Taking the crop. The different sorts of the plum ripen in succession for about 

 three months in summer and autumn. Some early sorts begin to ripen in July ; the 

 main varieties reach full maturity in August and September ; late sorts continue ripen- 

 ing till the end of October or beginning of November. Each kind should be brought to 

 table presently after being gathered, as they will not keep long in a natural state. 



4570. Forcing the plum. Plums may be forced in pots, or otherwise, like other fruit trees. Grange and 

 Aiton, have forced them both ways : the latter thus describes his practice. " The sorts generally 

 preferred for forcing are the following, Pr^cocede Tours, green gage, blue gage, white perdrigon, Orleans, 

 New Orleans, and Morocco. Some others have been tried, as La Royale, simiennes, and blue perdrigon, but 

 are found objectionable, the two first producing fruit void of flavor, and the latter has a tendency to 

 crack and gum." 



4571. When an early crop is desired, plums are best forced in large pots or tubs, as this method ad- 

 mits of their removal at pleasure into different degrees of temperature, as occasion may require ; but for a 

 general crop to ripen by the end of May, or beginning of June, it is preferable to have the trees planted in 

 the forcing-house, and if they are intended to be forced in the first year, proper trees for the purpose fur- 

 nished with well branching wood, should be selected and planted early in the autumn, that they may 

 establish themselves before the winter sets in. The soil to be preferred is a moderately rich loam, without 

 mixture of manure. 



4572. For a crop to ripen in the second iveek in May, the house must be covered in early in January 

 commencing with a temperature of 42° of Fahrenheit, for the first fortnight, after which the heat may be 

 gradually raised to 52°, at which it may continue until the flowers make their appearance ; during this time 

 frequent changes of air must be admitted, to strengthen the bloom, and the crop will be rendered more 

 certain by keeping the trees in blossom as long as possible, by light shading, where necessary ; and when the 

 petals begin to fall, gentle dews may be raised from the surface of the mould. As the fruit forms, the 

 thermometer should be raised to 58°; this must be done gradually, as the consequence of a rapid rise may 

 be a casting of the fruit ; during the progress of stoning great care must be taken against sudden variations 

 of the temperature, water very sparingly used, and every check by fumigation be given to the various 

 insects which will be particularly active at this period. When the fruit is safely stoned, a moderate dress- 

 ing of rotten manure may be spread on the surface of the mould ; the heat increased to 68°, and a more 

 liberal supplv of water given. After the fruit has attained a full size, and approaches maturity, air may 

 be freely admitted, and water should be given in less quantities, and finally discontinued, a few days before 

 gathering. 



4573. Insects, diseases, §c. See Peach. The gum and canker are the most common 

 diseases, and, as in almost every other case, the acarus is the most noxious insect. As 

 a remedy for the former, Abercrombie directs to head down. The insects are destroyed 

 by the common means. The gages, or reine Claudes, when nearly ripe, are very apt to 

 be eaten by wasps. 



Subsect. 6. Cherry. — Primus Cerasus, L. (Eng. Bot. 706.) Icos. Di-Pentag. L. 

 and Rosacece, J. Cerisier, Fr. ; Kirschenbaum, Ger. ; and Ciriegio, Ital. 



4574. The cherry is a middle-sized tree, with ash-colored, shining, roundish branches, 

 ovate serrated leaves, and white flowers, produced in nodding umbels, and succeeded by a 

 red drupe, with an acid pulp. The leaf and flowering buds are distinct, the former termi- 

 nating, the latter produced from the sides of the two or more years' branches. The cul- 

 tivated cherry was brought to Italy by the Roman general Lucullus, in 73 A. C. from a 

 town in Pontus in Asia, called Cerasus, whence its specific name, and was introduced to 

 Britain 1 20 years afterwards. Many suppose that the cherries introduced by the Romans 

 into Britain were lost, and that they were re-introduced in the time of Henry VIII. by 

 Richard Haines, the fruiterer to that monarch. But though we have no proof that 

 cherries were in England at the time of the Norman conquest, or for some centuries after 

 it ; yet Warton has proved, by a quotation from Lidgate, a poet who wrote about or before 

 1415, that the hawkers in London were wont to expose cherries for sale, in the same 

 manner as is now done early in the season. The tree is now very generally cultivated 

 both as a wall and standard fruit, and has been forced for upwards of two centuries. 



4575. Use. It is a refreshing summer fruit, highly grateful at the dessert, and afford- 

 ing pies, tarts, and other useful and elegant preparations in cookery and confectionary. 

 Steeping cherries in brandy qualifies and improves its strength and flavor ; a fine wine is 

 made from the juice, and a spirit distilled from the fermented pulp. The gum which 

 exudes from the tree is equal to gum arabic ; and Hasselquist relates that more than one 

 hundred men, during a siege, were kept alive for nearly two months, without any other 

 sustenance than a little of this gum taken sometimes into the mouth, and suffered gradu- 

 ally to dissolve. Cherry-wood is hard and tough, and is used by the turner, flute-maker, 

 and cabinet-maker. 



4576. Varieties. The Romans had eight kinds; red, black, tender-fleshed, hard- 

 fleshed, small bitter-flavored, and a dwarf sort. Tusser, in 1573, mentions cherries red 

 and black. Parkinson mentions thirty-four sorts, Ray twenty-four, and Miller has 

 eighteen sorts, to which he says others are continually adding, differing little from those 

 he has described. The catalogue of the Luxemburg garden contains forty-two sorts, and 

 those of our nurseries exceed that number of names. As usual, we have inserted only 

 those sorts of which we could obtain some authenticated descriptive particulars. The 

 French divide their cherries into griottes or tender-fleshed, bigarreaux or hard-fleshed, and 

 guignes, geans or small fruits. 



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