THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 1 75 



Fruit matures in mid-season; nearly one inch in diameter, oblate, strongly compressed; 

 cavity deep, narrow, abrupt; suture shallow;, apex flattened or slightly depressed; color 

 dark red; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem one and three-fourths inches 

 long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating from the pidp; flesh pale yellowish 

 or with a tinge of red, with light pink juice, slightly stringy, tender and melting, pleasantly 

 flavored, nuldly tart; of very good quality; stone free, roundish-oval, plump, blunt, oblique, 

 with smooth surfaces often tinged with red, with small ridges radiating from the base. 



OLIVET 



Prunns avium X Prunus cerasus 



1. Gard. Mm. 19:19. 1877. 2. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 20. 1881. 3. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 3rd 

 App. 164. 1881. 4- Can. Exp. Farm Btd. 17:11. 1892. $. Col. Sta. An. Rpt. 316. 1895-97. 6. Va. 

 Sta. Bui. 133:27. 1902. 7. la. Sta. Bui. 73:76, 77. 1903. 8. Am. Pom. Soc. Sp. Rpt. 24. 1904-05. 

 9. Wash. Sta. Bui. 92:21. 1910. 



Olivet is a large, globular, deep red, glossy cherry with a rich, vinous, 

 subacid flavor. Some writers call Olivet a Duke while others place it 

 with the Morellos. The fruit, on the grounds of this Station, shows many 

 characteristics of the Morellos while the tree appears to be a Duke, sug- 

 gesting that it is a hybrid between trees of the two groups. The fruit, 

 eaten out of hand, woiold be rated as a very good Morello or a subacid 

 and somewhat mediocre Duke, a fruit hardly good enough for dessert and 

 not as good as some of the sourer cherries for culinary purposes. It is 

 one of the earliest of the MoreUo-Hke cherries and this may give it a place 

 in the cherry flora of the country. The trees are large and vigorous and 

 their much-branched, roiond tops would seem to give the maximum amount 

 of bearing surface, but, unfortiuiately, the cherries do not set abundantly. 

 On the grounds of this Station the variety is not fruitftd, this being its chief 

 defect. In other parts of the country, however, it is reported to be either 

 very productive or moderately so. The descriptions of this cherry as given 

 by American experiment stations and nurserymen show plainly that there 

 are several distinct sorts passing under the name Olivet in this cotmtry. 



Olivet, of comparatively recent origin, was found at OHvet, Loire, 

 France. American nurserymen introduced this variety sometime previous 

 to 1877, for in that year the Gardener's Monthly mentioned the cherry as 

 being " a valuable Dtike sort filling an unoccupied place among the list 

 of early cherries in central New York." Olivet was entered on the Amer- 

 ican Pomological Society's catalog list of fruits in 1881 where it is still 

 retained. 



Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, round-topped, unproductive; trunk thickish, 

 rather rough; branches thick, smooth, reddish-brown partly overspread with ash-gray, 



