696 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



concludes that, though the merisier existed in France, it had probably never 

 attracted the notice of the cultivated Romans, as, even if they had discovered 

 the tree, they would have set little value on its bitter, austere, and nearly juice- 

 less fruit ; and that, when Lucullus brought either C. vulgaris, or some improved 

 variety of it, from the country near Cerasus, they considered the fruit as new. 

 At all events, it does not appear to have been cultivated before the time of 

 Lucullus, though afterwards it made such rapid progress, that Pliny, in his 

 Natural History, tells us, " In 26 years after Lucultus planted the cherry 

 tree in Italy, other lands had cherries, even as far as Britain, beyond the 

 ocean." It is curious, that, in Pliny's enumeration of the sorts of cherry cul- 

 tivated in his time (A. D. 70), he mentions C. duracina, and C. Juliana, both 

 varieties of C. sylvestris. The former, he says, are much esteemed ; and " the- 

 Julian cherries have a pleasant taste, but are so tender, that they must be 

 eaten where they are gathered, as they will not endure carriage." Pliny 

 enumerates six other kinds, among which was one with quite black fruit, which 

 was called Actia; and another with very red fruit, which was called Apronia. 

 As Pliny wrote above 100 years after the time of Lucullus, it is impossible 

 now to ascertain whether all the cherries he mentions were introduced by 

 that general, or originated by culture in Italy, &c. At all events, the tree 

 appears to have rapidly become a universal favourite, and to have spread 

 throughout all the Roman dominions. At present, it is extensively cultivated, 

 as a fruit tree, throughout the temperate regions of the globe; but it does not 

 thrive in tropical climates, and even attains a larger size in the middle and 

 north of Europe than it does in the south. 



In Britain, the testimony of most authors confirms the statement of Pliny, 

 that the tree, or, at least, the cultivated cherry, was introduced by the Romans ; 

 and tradition says that the first cherry orchards were planted in Kent ; a 

 circumstance which seems confirmed by the celebrity which has been long 

 maintained by that county for its cherries. Some writers assert that the 

 cherries introduced by the Romans were lost during the period that the 

 country was under the dominion of the Saxons, till they were reintroduced 

 by Richard Harris, gardener to Henry VII I., who brought them from Flan- 

 ders, and planted them at Sittingbourne, in Kent. The incorrectness of this 

 story is, however, proved by the fact that Lydgate, who wrote in 1415 (during 

 the reign of Henry V.), speaks of cherries being exposed for sale in the Lon- 

 don market. Gerard, in his Herbal, published in 1597, figures a double and 

 semidouble variety of cherry; and, of the fruit-bearing kinds, says that there 

 were numerous varieties. Among others, he particularly mentions the black 

 wild cherry, the fruit of which was unwholesome, and had " an harsh and 

 unpleasant taste;" and "the Flanders, or Kentish, cherries," of which he 

 says, that, when they are thoroughly ripe, they " have a better juice, but watery, 

 cold, and moist." Gerard also speaks of the morello, or morel, which he 

 calls a French cherry. In the survey and valuation, made in 1649, of the manor 

 and mansion belonging to Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., at Wim- 

 bledon, in Surrey, previously to its sale during the Commonwealth, it appears 

 that there were upwards of 200 cherry trees in the gardens. (Archceologia, 

 vol. x. p. 399.) From this period to the present day, cherries have been in 

 great request, both as shrubbery and orchard trees. 



In France, the cherry is highly prized, as supplying food to the poor; and a 

 law was passed, so long ago as 1669, commanding the preservation of all 

 cherry trees in the royal forests. The consequence of this was, that the 

 forests became so full of fruit trees, that there was no longer room for the 

 underwood ; when, as usual, going to the other extreme, all the fruit trees 

 were cut down, except such young ones as were included among the number 

 of standard saplings required by the law to be left to secure a supply of timber. 

 This measure, Bosc remarks, was a great calamity for the poor, who, during 

 several months of the year, lived, either directly or indirectly, on the produce 

 of the merisier. Soup made of the fruit, with a little bread, and a little butter, 

 was the common nourishment of the woodcutters and the charcoal-burners 



