THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 115 



Tree medium in size, spreading, becoming drooping, not very productive; trunk inter- 

 mediate in thickness; branches reddish-brown overspread with ash-gray, with numerous 

 lenticels variable in size; branchlets brown or ash-gray, smooth, with numerous con- 

 spicuous, raised lenticels. 



Leaves very numerous, four inches long, two inches wide, folded upward, oval to 

 obovate, thin; upper surface dark green, roughened; lower surface dull, light green, thinly 

 pubescent; apex acute; margin finely and doubly serrate, glandular; petiole two inches 

 long, slender, dull red on the upper surface, with one or two large, reniform, reddish glands 

 on the stalk. 



Buds small, short, obtuse, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds, or in small 

 clusters on numerous, short spurs; season of bloom late; flowers white, one and one-fourth 

 inches across; borne in scattered clusters in twos and threes; pedicels one inch long, of 

 medium thickness, glabrous, green; calyx-tube light reddish-green, campanulate, glabrous; 

 calyx-lobes tinged with red, of meditmi length, broad, acute, glabrous within and without, 

 reflexed; petals roundish-oval, entire, with short, broad claws, the apex notched; filaments 

 in four series, the longest averaging one-half inch in length; pistil glabrous, shorter than 

 the stamens. 



Fruit matures in mid-season or later; three-fourths of an inch long, one inch in thick- 

 ness, roundish-oblate, compressed; cavity deep, abrupt; suture indistinct; apex flattened 

 or with a deep depression; color medium to dark red; dots numerous, small, russet, incon- 

 spicuous; stem one and one-half inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin tender, separating 

 readily from the ptilp; flesh yellowish- white, with abundant colorless juice, tender and 

 melting, sprightly; of very good quality; stone free, nearly one-half inch in diameter, 

 roundish, blunt, with smooth surfaces. 



CENTENNIAL 



Prunus amum 



I. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 17, 159. 1885. 2. Wickson Cal. Fruits 289. 1889. 3. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat- 

 24. 1899. 



In California, Centennial is passing from the period of probation to 

 one of general acceptance as a standard variety. Unfortunately it has not 

 been well tested in the East but trees growing in a commercial orchard at 

 Geneva show the variety to be a close competitor, in this instance at least, 

 with its parent, Napoleon, the mainstay of Sweet Cherry growers in New 

 York. In some respects it quite surpasses Napoleon. It is larger, sweeter 

 and better flavored and has a smaller pit. The trees fall short of those 

 of its well-known parent, however, in being less fnaitful. Even more 

 serious defects are, in the orchard under observation, that Centennial 

 cracks and is less successful in resisting brown-rot than Napoleon though 

 it surpasses many other well-known sorts in these respects. The two 

 varieties under comparison may be ftirther distinguished by the more 



