44 



THE ILLESTOIS FAEMEK 



Feb. 



May cherry with the Early Richmond, but no 

 definite conclasion was arrived at, and the subject 

 was left to the committee. 



There was a sufficient number of facts set 

 forth to show that at least most of the trees sent 

 out from the Buffalo and Rochester nurseries as 

 the Early Richmond are not identical with the 

 May cherry under consideration, but that a cher- 

 ry answering to Downing's description of the 

 Early Eichmond, and nearly or quite identical 

 with the May cherry has been sent out by J. J. 

 Thomas and some others. Messrs. Phinix, Ed- 

 wards and Overman bore testimony to this fact. 

 Mr. Edwards, who had resided some years since 

 at Cincinnat', said that the cherry was called 

 May cherry and Early Richmond indiscriminate- 

 ly, and he believed it to be the tr le Early Rich- 

 mond of Downing, and that many trees sent out 

 from the New York nurseries under this name 

 were not true but an inferior variety. We tbink 

 all the speakers coincided in this view. 



In the first place, the committee consisted of 

 three members, to which ourself and one or two 

 others were added, but without any notice of a 

 meeting of the committee, to our surprise they, 

 or a majority of them, Mr. W. being one of the 

 number of the original committee, made the fol- 

 lowing very astute report : 



Resolved, That the cherry heretofore recom- 

 mended by this society as the Early Richmond or 

 the Early May is in our opinion the true Early 

 Richmond of the books; that the true Early May 

 is an inferior variety, unworthy of cultivation, 

 and therefore that the name of Early May as ap- 

 plied to the Early Richmond havicg been used in 

 defeience to local Western usag , without suffi- 

 cient explanation, is incorrect. 



Well, truly the mountain labored, etc. Now 

 what does this amount to ? Have the committee 

 made examination through the season of 1862 

 and compared the tree and fruit so as to arrive at 

 the facts ? Certainly not unless they have used 

 some spiritual medium to investigate the subject. 



We affirm that in our opinion the committee 

 have not performed the duty imposed upon them, 

 but in such an indefinite report have still further 

 befogged the subject. The May cherry wns well 

 known in the west years before Downing wrote 

 his Fruit Trees of America, but it appears to have 

 escaped his notice, as no mention is made of it, 

 though Virginia May is put down as one of the 

 synonyms of the Kentish in common with the 

 Early Richmond. The first edition of Downing's 

 •work was published in 1845, and the next year 

 this cherry was brought to Will county from In- 



diana, as will appear from the letter of Mr.Brun- 

 son. 



No doubt that these came from Kentucky, and 

 it is probable that it came from Virginia, as the 

 Virginia May, hence the name May, and subse- 

 quently Early May, from its earlinc^s. We have 

 never contended that it was not the Kentish of 

 Downing, but have always claimed that it was 

 not the Early Richmond sent out from the New 

 York nurseries. Had the committee reported 

 facts instead of their opinion we would be con- 

 tent. Let us first settle what is and what is not 

 the true Kentish of Downing and we will be at 

 once master of the subject. That J. J. Thomas 

 has it we are disposed to believe, and probably 

 olhers. 



We hope no mau will purchase the May cherry 

 under any other name without he knows it is the 

 one that has been known in the West as such for 

 over a generation and in this State at least since 

 1846. As we have before said, Mr. Wakeman 

 purchased the variety under the name of May 

 cherry and for several years called it such. He 

 certainly had no right to change the name to 

 Early RichmoEd, nor had the committee of which 

 he was a member, for Downing who is the auth- 

 ority in nomenclature for the society, says that 

 the Early Richmond in common with Virginia 

 May is a synonym of the Kentish. Should this 

 cherry prove to be the true Kentish we will cheer- 

 fully accord it the true name and be thankful 

 that the West has preserved this fruit now con- 

 ceded to be of so much value. 



It is possible that our May, or Virginia May, 

 may have been sent back from the West to Mr. 

 Thomas and others and been baptized with one 

 of its synonyms and returned to the West ; hence 

 the identity of these specimens. Virginia May 

 standing a<< it does at the head of the list of syn- 

 onyms would indicate that Mr. Downing had it 

 in view when writing a description of it. From 

 the fact that a large pait of the fruits of Ken- 

 tucky were brought with the early settlers from 

 Virginia, it is more than probable that the Vir- 

 ginia May came with them also. Will Mr. 

 Thomas and others at the East and Westassistin 

 settling this point. We conclude this long arti- 

 cle with the letter of Mr. Brunson to the Chicago 

 Tribune : 



Eds. Tbibcnk — I saw in your last weekly a 

 communication in relation to the Early May 

 cherry, and seeing my name in connection there- 

 with, I would throw what light on the subject I 

 could, and which I do more cheer ully on account 

 of the high opinion I have of that variety of 

 fruit. 



