194 TREATISE ON FRUIT TREES. 



though not very deeply nor sharply. They're partly bidenticulated. Near the tip that 

 terminates in a point of average length & sharpness, the leaf is much wider than it is near 

 the stalk where it tapers uniformly & ends in a point. The leaves on the shoots are four to 

 five inches long & two inches to two inches nine lignes wide. The ones on fruiting 

 branches are much smaller, & those at the tips of the shoots have the reverse shape. 



The fruit is big, a bit compressed at both ends, & flatter along its length than are 

 most of the round cherries. Its large diameter is nine to ten-&-a-half lignes, the small 

 diameter is eight to nine lignes & its height is seven-&-a-half to nine lignes. The stalk is 

 of average size, twelve to twenty lignes long, entirely green and set into a wide & quite 

 deep recess. 



The skin is a beautiful red-brown verging on black when the fruit is extremely 

 ripe. 



The flesh is red and a bit firmer than that of the morello cherry. 



The juice is red, not sour, very mild & indeed in some locations not sufficiently 

 flavorful. 



The pit is four-&-a-half lignes long, three-&-a-half lignes wide, and three lignes 

 thick. 



This cherry ripens about the beginning of July. 



Three principal varieties of this cherry tree are cultivated that differ only in their 

 fruit. They are the following: the early Royal or Due de May or May-Duke. Its fruit is 

 smaller & it ripens very much earlier, from the end of May or the beginning of June 

 onward. It's much superior in quality to our premature cherry. The late Royal, that has 

 beautiful but too sour fruit; it ripens only in September. & the Holmans-Duke, a beautiful 

 & outstanding cherry. 



