146 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



JEFFREY DUKE 



Prunus avium X Prunus cerasus 



1. Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat. 52. 1831. 2. Mag. Hort. 9:204. 1843. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 190. 

 191. 1845. ^. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. ji^. 1862. 5. Mas Poot. Ge». 11:119, 120, fig. 60. 1882. 6. Hogg 

 Fruit Man. 302. 1884. 



Royale. 7. Duhamel Trait. Arb. Fr. 1:193, 194, PI. XV. 1768. 8. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 

 482-484. 1819. 9. Leroy Diet. Pom. 5:386, 387 fig., 388. 1877. 



KonigUche Siissweichsel. 10. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 427-429. 1819. 11. III. Handb. 73 

 fig., 74- 1867. 



Jeffrey's Royal. 12. Floy-Lindley Guide Orch. Card. 99. 1846. 



Royale Hative. 13. Mortillet Le Cerisier 2:134-138, fig. 32. 1866. 



This old variety, which has almost passed from adtivation, may have 

 had its origin in France about the middle of the Eighteenth Century, 

 though more likely it originated in England much earlier. Leroy men- 

 tions a Royale cherry which was introduced from England to France about 

 1730 and was first grown by M. le Normand in the garden of Lotiis XV. 

 The name Royale was first used by the French about 1735 from the fact 

 that it was grown in the royal gardens and since that time this name has 

 cltmg to the variety in most of the French plantations. According to 

 English writers, the variety was brought to notice in England by Jeffrey, 

 proprietor of the Brompton Nursery at Brompton Park, England, and 

 from that time it was known as Jeffrey's Dtike. English pomologists main- 

 tain that Jeffrey renamed the old Cherry Diike of England, giving it 

 his name. Jeffrey Duke appeared on the American Pomological Society's 

 fruit catalog list in 1862 but was dropped in 187 1. It is doubtful if the 

 variety can now be found in America. The following description is com- 

 piled from the authors given in the references: 



Tree large, vigorous, very upright, unusually compact, slow-growing, productive; 

 branches very numerous, stocky, straight, thickly set with fruit-spurs; intemodes short; 

 branchlets very short; buds closely set; leaves numerous, medium in size, oval or obovate, 

 acuminate; margin finely and irregularly serrate; petiole short, slender, with small, flattened 

 or globose glands; blooming season late; flowers small, very open. 



Fruit matures in mid-season, usually attached in pairs; medium in size, roundish, 

 slightly flattened at the apex and base; suture a well-marked line; color lively red becoming 

 dark red or almost black when fully ripe; stem slender, inserted in a moderately broad, 

 deep cavity; skin thin; flesh firm but tender, yellowish-amber, with abundant colored 

 juice, slightly stringy, highly flavored; good in quality; stone small, rotmdish, tinged 

 with red. 



