78 HISTORY OF FRUITS. 



kind is mentioned by the above author, which never ap- 

 peared ripe, having a hue between green, red, and black. 

 He mentions a cherry that was grafted in his time on a 

 bay-tree stock, which circumstance gave it the name of 

 laurea : this cherry is described as having an agreeable 

 bitterness. " The cherry-tree could never be made to 

 grow in Egypt," continues Pliny, " with all the care and 

 attention of man." 



The county of Kent has long been celebrated for the 

 quantity of cherries which it produces, and, in all proba- 

 bility, they were first planted in this part of England, of 

 which CaBsar speaks more favourably than of any other 

 part which he visited. Some authors assure us, that the 

 whole race of cherries that had been brought to this 

 country by the Romans, were lost in the Saxon period, 

 and were only restored by Richard Harris, fruiterer to 

 Henry the Vlllth, who brought them from Flanders, and 

 planted them at Sittingbourn in Kent. This appears to 

 be an error, as Gerard says, " the Flanders' cherrie-tree 

 differeth not from our English cherrie-tree in stature or in 

 forme," &c. 



The Kentish-cherry is considered to be the original 

 kind, and it is also thought to be the most wholesome ; 

 great quantities of this variety of the cherry are cultivated 

 in the neighbourhood of Paris, where they are generally 

 preferred, particularly the variety with a short stalk, 

 called Montmorericy, from the fertile and delightful valley 

 of that name, in the northern vicinity of Paris, where 

 they are cultivated for the well-supplied markets of that 

 city. 



De Heem seldom painted any other than the Kentish 

 cherry in his admirable fruit-pieces, from which we should 

 judge that it was the favourite cherry in Flanders two 

 hundred years ago. 



Mr. T. A. Knight has raised a new variety of this fruit, 



