1914 



FRUITS OF ONTARIO. 



1)7 



MAY DUKE. (Early Duke, Royal Hative.) 



A fine cooking cherry. The great productiveness, health and vigor of the tree, the 

 mild acid of the fruit ripening over a considerable season, all tend to make this a 

 favorite variety. The 

 fruit is rather ten- 

 der for distant ship- 

 ments, and inclined 

 to rot in wet seasons. 

 These Duke cherries 

 have green and ripe 

 fruit at the same 

 time, which makes 

 them undesirable for 

 commercial orchard- 

 ing, as it necessi- 

 tates several pick- 

 ings instead of one, 

 increasing the cost 

 of harvest beyond 

 the margin of profit. 

 ORIGIN : Medoc, a 

 Province in France, 

 from whence the 

 name is said to be 

 a corruption. 



TREE: upright, a 

 habit especially 

 noticeable in young 

 trees ; vigorous, 

 hardy and produc- 

 tive; group, Duke. 



FRUIT: size, small to medium; form, roundish, obtuse, heart-shaped, with traceable 

 suture and distinct indentation to apex; grows in clusters; skin, bright red, turning 

 darker at full maturity; stalk, 1 to 2 inches long; stone, small. 



FLESH: red; texture, tender, very juicy; flavor, subacid, and very good. 



QUALITY: good for dessert, first class for cooking. 



SEASON: late June. 



MAY DUKE. 



MEZEL. (Monstreuse de Mezel, Bigarreau of Mezel.) 



One of the finest of the late black cherries, of large size and great productiveness. 

 Though a Bigarreau, it has not the fault of its class of being especially subject to rot; 



it is not so black in color as the Elkhorn, but dark 

 enough a red to be classed with the black 

 cherries. 



ORIGIN: Mezel, France; first introduced in 

 1846. 



TREE: upright, spreading, a very vigorous 

 grower; one tree at Maplehurst, forty years 

 planted, was thirty feet in height in 1897, and 

 covered an area about the same number of feet in 

 diameter; first rate in hardiness and in produc- 

 tiveness; group, Bigarreau. 



FRUIT: very large, fifteen-sixteenths of an 

 inch long by one inch in width; form, obtuse, 

 heart shaped, slightly flattened, with a clearly- 

 defined suture on one side, ending in a slight 

 nipple; skin, dark red at first, changing to dark 

 purple at maturity; stalk, two inches long, 

 slender, set in good-sized cavity. 



FLESH: firm, Juicy, breaking; flavor, sweet, 

 good. 



QUALITY: for dessert, very good. 

 ^^^ VALUE: for market, first class. 



MEZEL. SEASON: mid July. 



F.O. 



