170 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



The flesh is white & a little dry. When the fruit is very ripe, it takes on a light tint of red. 



The juice is sharp or extremely sour. Nevertheless, the fruit is valued because it 

 ripens from the end of May or the beginning of June onward, before all other kinds of 

 fruit, whether they have pits or seeds. It graces desserts and is eaten in compotes or 

 glazed with sugar. 



The pit is big, three lignes long, almost equally wide, & t wo-&-a-half lignes thick. 

 I've often found with these early cherries that when the pit is very small, the fruit is 

 fleshier as a result. I don't know if this is a variety or if the difference is due to the soil or 

 the degree of ripeness. 



The May-Duke, a variety of the Chery-Duke n°. 20 with excellent, fleshier, & also 

 premature fruit, is preferable to this cherry tree. 



II. CHERRY TREE with earlier, sweet, round, medium-sized acidic red fruit. 

 Early CHERRY TREE. (PL IV.) 



This cherry tree grows much larger than the preceding one but smaller than most 

 of the cherry trees of its kind. It's customarily grown as a half standard tree. By grafting it 

 onto the wild cherry tree, it can be made into a standard tree, but it only forms a small, 

 not very extensive top. Its branches droop, especially when they're loaded with the 

 abundant fruit that it produces. 



Its slender shoots, supple & very numerous, make the top bushy. 



The buds are oval, not very pointed, & make quite a wide angle with the shoot. 



Three or four flowers emerge from the same bud. They're eleven lignes in 

 diameter and are wide open. The petal is rounded and striated at the edges. The sections 

 of the calyx are finely denticulated. 



