CIIEItRIES. 



123 



disproportionate to their strength and to the weight of their 

 foliage. The French received this variety from Germany, 

 with (as Noisette says) the assurance that its fruit was as large 

 as the Yellow Egg-plum, which he gives as an excuse for its 

 being imposed on the public under the name of Quatre a la 

 livre, or Four to the pound. But what excuse is there for its 

 having been represented in the Bon Jardinier, a work repub- 

 lished annually at Paris, as the largest of all cherries, for 

 several years after the deception was ascertained ? The tree 

 is far from being productive, and yields but sparingly, and the 

 fruit ripens late in July : its foliage, however, renders it an 

 object of curiosity, and distinguishes it from all other cherries. 



ALLEN'S LATE FAVOURITE. Pr. cat. 



This variety was presented to my father by Zachariah Allen 

 of Providence, a gentleman distinguished for his intelligence 

 in horticultural pursuits. The tree grows vigorously; the 

 fruit is of fine quality, juicy and well flavoured, and ripens in 

 Rhode Island at the same time as the Black Mazzard, which 

 constitutes its particular value, as most of the finer varieties 

 are then past. The fruit is sold in considerable quantities in 

 the markets at Providence. 



GRIDLEY. Mass. hort. 

 Maccarty. Apple Cherry. 



This variety was discovered thirty-seven years ago, by Mr. 

 Wm. Maccarty, of Roxbury, near Boston, growing in the gar- 

 den of Deacon Samuel Gridley of that town. He states that the 

 tree was then five or six inches in diameter. The flesh is firm 

 like the Bigarreau, sprightly, and fine flavoured ; the colour 

 is black ; the size that of a medium Black Heart, but the stem 

 is shorter and stone smaller. It comes into eating immediately 

 after that variety, and is much esteemed as a market fruit, and 

 possesses the advantage of bearing carriage well. Its only 

 defect is, that when near maturity, if the weather be damp or 

 wet, the fruit cracks open and spoils. The tree grows upright, 



