268 The Kentish or Early Richmond Cherry. 



this country, the May Duke excepted. It is very probably one of those 

 which were brought from Flanders by Richard Haines about three hundred 

 years ago. Evelyn says, ' It was the plain industry of one Richard Haines, 

 a fruiterer to King Henry VIII., that the fields and environs of about thirty 

 towns in Kent only were planted with fruit-trees from Flanders, to the 

 unusual benefit and general improvement of that county to this day.' 



" The trees grow like those of the Morello, with slender branches and 

 shining leaves. The stone is so strongly attached to the stalk as to be 

 drawn by it from the pulp with facility, leaving the fruit apparently whole ; 

 a property, I believe, not possessed by any other cherry. In this state it 

 is laid on hair-sieves, and exposed to the sun, where it dries, and becomes 

 a delicious sweetmeat, similar in appearance to that of a large Sultana raisin, 

 and will keep thus for twelve months." 



Loudon states in his " Arboretum," vol. ii. p. 696, that " Gerard, in his 

 ' Herbal,' published in 1597, mentions . . . the Flanders or Kentish cherries, 

 of which he says, when they are thoroughly ripe, they ' have a bitter juice, 

 but watery, cold, and moist.' " 



This is as far back as my authorities reach, giving us the following 

 names : — 



1597. — Gerard .... Flanders, Kentish. 

 1 83 1. — LiNDLEY . . . . A''^;///j'/^, Flemish. 

 1832. — Prince .... Early Richtnond. 



Early Kentish. 



Virginian May. 

 1857. — Downing . . . Kentish. 



Ear^rRicl^mond, | "^ American gardens. 

 Kentish, or ) -r • ^i 

 Flemish, |Lmdley. 



Common Red,"] 



Sussex, f .1 T,- r 1 



T). r-\ roi the i.nghsh. 



Pie-Cnerry, *' 



Kentish Red, J 



Montmorency O. Duh., ^ r ., 



Montmorency a longue queues, > p . 



Commune, ) 



Muscat de Prague. 



1867. — Elliott . . . Early Riciimond. 



Without inquiring into the identity of these varied names, I pass to the 

 more valuable fact, that Lindley, Prince, Downing, and Elliott all describe 

 a cherry whose stone adheres firmly to the stem, — a peculiarity so marked 



