VARIETIES. 269 



family; but size and beauty carry the market, and the 

 Cherry can be made, by high culture, very large and 

 beautiful. 



Versailles, or La Versaillaise, is a figurative bone of con- 

 tention. The horticultural doctors disagree so decidedly 

 that the rest of us can, without presumption, think for our- 

 selves. Mr. A. S. Fuller has probably given the subject 

 more attention than any one else, and he asserts, without 

 any hesitancy, that this so-called variety is identical with 

 the Cherry. Mr. Fuller is certainly entitled to his opinion, 

 for he obtained plants of the Cherry and Versailles from 

 all the leading nurserymen in America, and imported them 

 from the standard nurseries abroad, not only once, but re- 

 peatedly, yet could never get two distinct varieties. The 

 writer in the " Canadian Horticulturist " also states in regard 

 to the Versailles : " Some pains were taken to obtain this 

 variety on different occasions, and from the most reliable 

 sources, so that there might be no mistake as to the cor- 

 rectness of the name ; but after many years of trial we are 

 unable to perceive any decided variation, either in the qual- 

 ity of the fruit, the length of the bunch, or the habit of the 

 plant, from the Cherry currant." 



I must admit that I am inclined to take the same view ; 

 for, during several years, I have looked in vain for two 

 distinct varieties. I have carefully kept the two kinds sep- 

 arate, but find in each case the same stout, stocky, short- 

 jointed, erect shoots that are often devoid of buds, and tend 

 to become naked with age, and the same dark green, thick, 

 bluntly and coarsely serrated foliage. Mr. Downing thinks 

 the difference Hes in the fact that, while the Versailles strain 

 produces many short bunches like the Cherry, it also fre- 

 quently bears clusters, and that such long, tapering clusters 

 are never formed on the Cherry. This is the only differ* 



