466 GENERAL REVIEW. 



the intercession of one of Mr Knight's children, who had 

 planted the stone from which it sprang, and so one of our 

 finest Cherries was preserved to our gardens. This confirms 

 what is now known to be a fact viz., that the value of seedling 

 varieties of fruit cannot be judged until the trees have been 

 grown and fruited several seasons. Numerous seminal varie- 

 ties of this delicious fruit have been raised in France, Germany, 

 Russia, and America, and the nationality of the varieties is 

 in many cases denoted by their names. The Cherry season 

 now lasts from May to- August. It is a little singular to 

 note that Mr Knight could never make the Morello breed 

 with the Kentish or Duke race, notwithstanding that they 

 are supposed to have originated from C. vulgaris. The Mor- 

 ello is the latest of all Cherries, and hangs well on the tree, 

 but is not fit for dessert : its flavour would doubtless be 

 improved, and a valuable race of late varieties be the result 

 of fertilising it with the Late Duke or other excellent-flavoured 

 varieties. 



Mr Rivers has raised some seedling varieties from the 

 lt Early Purple Guigne," which are equally precocious and fine 

 in flavour, besides being hardy enough to succeed well on open 

 walls. About 100 of the best varieties are grown at Saw- 

 bridgeworth, and the more choice and tender varieties of the 

 Guigne and Bigarreau race are double-grafted on the Mahaleb 

 stock (Cerasus mahaleb), the intermediary or go-between por- 

 tion of the stock being some vigorous kind of Duke or Morello 

 Cherry worked on the Mahaleb by budding. The Mahaleb is 

 the best stock for all the Duke, Kentish, and Morello Cherries, 

 as the trees grow better and are longer-lived than when worked 

 on the common Cherry or Gean stocks. Cherries are for the 

 most part budded in our nurseries either on the small Black 

 Cherry or Mahaleb stocks. 



Cerasus mahaleb is a small-growing tree 12-16 feet in height, 

 bearing a dense head of drooping branches on a slender trunk. 

 It forms straight clean shoots of a greyish colour, often warted. 

 The deep green leaves resemble those of the Pear in shape and 

 colour, being about 2 inches long by i^ inch in breadth, 

 bearing one or more round glands on the petiole. A good 

 specimen may be seen about a hundred yards to the west of 

 the Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens. 



M. Baltet recommends the red-fruited wild Cherry as being 

 better for shield-budding than the black-fruited kind. Graft as 

 a standard (not close to the ground) when the sap is on the 

 decline. Cleft-grafting succeeds best towards the end of sum- 

 mer before the sap disappears. Grafting on the wild Cherry 



