CHAPTER IX 



VARIETIES OF CHERRIES 



Although the cherry seems to have been 

 domesticated as early as any other of the 

 tree-fruits, the cultivated cherry is now more 

 like its wild progenitor than any other in- 

 habitant of the orchard. The cherry, of all 

 hardy fruits, excepting, perhaps, the Insititia 

 plums, is also most fixed in its characters: as 

 a consequence, the differences between tree and 

 fruit in the varieties are less marked, and the 

 varieties come more nearly true to seed. In 

 spite of these facts, there are a great number 

 of varieties: the author described 1145 in The 

 Cherries oj New York. The sorts included in 

 this chapter are varieties now under cultiva- 

 tion, for most part those on sale by nursery- 

 men in 1920. All the full descriptions have 

 been made from trees growing on the grounds 

 of the New York Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, Geneva, New York. 



ABBESSE D'OIGNIES. Fig. 114. P. 

 AviumXP- Cerasus. Abbesse d'Oignies has 

 so many good characters that it is well worth 

 trying commercially wherever good cherries 

 are grown in the United 

 States. It seems so far 

 to have been tried only 

 in the Middle West, 

 where Professor Budd 

 introduced it in Iowa 

 from Russia in 1883. 

 Here in the unfavor- 

 able soil and climatic 

 conditions of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley, Abbesse 

 d'Oignies grows as well 

 as any cherry of its 

 class. The trees are 

 large, vigorous, hardy, 

 fruitful, and free from 

 fungous diseases. The 

 cherries are large, dark 

 red, of most excellent 

 quality, combining the 

 flavor of the Dukes 

 with a firmer and ten- 

 derer flesh. The high 

 quality, handsome ap- 

 pearance, and good 

 shipping qualities of 

 the fruit, combined with 



the excellent characters of the trees, ought to 

 make Abbesse d'Oignies a very good commer- 

 cial variety. This cherry originated in Belgium 

 about the middle of the nineteenth century. 



Tree characteristically large and vigorous, upright- 

 spreading, round-topped but with drooping branches, 



114. Abbesse d'Oig- 

 nies. (XI) 



hardy, productive. Leaves 2% inches wide, 5% inches 

 long, obovate, thick ; margin with small black glands, 

 coarsely and doubly serrate ; petiole 1 *4 inches long, 

 thick, lightly tinged with red, grooved, with one or 

 two small, globose, reddish-orange glands. Flowers mid- 

 season, white, 1% inches across ; borne in dense clusters 

 at the end of spurs or spur-like branches, varying from 

 one to three. Fruit late ; % inch long, 1 inch thick, 

 round-oblate, slightly compressed ; cavity wide, regular ; 

 suture a line ; apex rounded, slightly depressed ; color 

 dark red ; dots numerous, light russet, conspicuous ; 

 stem slender ; colorless juice, stringy, tender and soft, 

 sprightly subacid ; of very good quality ; stone free, 

 round, turgid, slightly pointed, with smooth surface ; 

 ridged along the suture. 



ABUNDANCE. P. avium. Abundance is 

 a seedling of the well-known Napoleon, or 

 Royal Ann, as it is called in the Pacific states. 

 The seedling closely resembles the parent in 

 fruit and tree. The variety is grown only in 

 California and Oregon, and in these states 

 growers maintain that the fruit is larger than 

 that of Napoleon and the tree a stronger 

 grower and more productive. The season is 

 about the same. On the grounds of the New 

 York Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, 

 New York, it is difficult to tell the fruit of the 

 seedling from that of the parent. The de- 

 scription of Napoleon will answer for that 

 of Abundance. The variety originated with 

 Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa, California, and 

 was first mentioned in his catalog for 1911-12. 



BALDWIN. P. Cerasus. On the grounds 

 of the New York Experiment Station, Baldwin 

 trees which came direct from the originator 

 turned out to be Olivet. The published de- 

 scriptions are so scant and fragmentary that 

 it cannot be made out whether the variety is 

 distinct or is Olivet renamed. The variety has 

 been widely disseminated in the Middle West, 

 but has not shown much merit either for home 

 or for commercial orchards in the rather 

 lengthy probational period it has had in the 

 East. Baldwin is supposed to have grown on 

 the farm of S. J. Baldwin, Seneca, Kansas, 

 from a sprout of a stock on which Early Rich- 

 mond had been budded, and first fruited in 

 1891. The description is a compilation. 



Tree vigorous, round-topped ; leaves large, broad ; 

 flowers white, changing to pink. Fruit ripens early ; 

 usually borne in pairs ; large, round ; stem of medium 

 length, rather thick ; color very dark red, yet almost 

 transparent ; flavor slightly acid, yet considered one 

 of the sweetest and richest of the Morello class. 



BELLE DE CHOISY. P. aviumXP. 

 Cerasus. Choisy. The fruits of Choisy are 

 handsome and delicious about the best of all 

 dessert cherries, delicately combining the rich- 

 ness of the sweet and the sprightliness of the 



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