THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 235 



named becatise of the peculiar and lively mingling of sweet and acid in its flavor. Tree 



very hardy, vigorous, bearing regularly, and withstanding the attacks of rot and blight. 



Fruit of medium size, rotmdish-cordate, slightly angular; stem moderately long; cavity 



shallow, flat; sldn lively brick-red, inclining to pink; flesh amber, juicy, sprightly, rich; 



ripens the middle of Jtme. 



Champion. P. pumila. 1. Can. Exp. Farms Rpt. 307. 1898. 



Champion is one of many seedlings of the Manitoba Sand, a native Canadian cherry 



named and described in 1898, by Wm. Saunders of the Canadian Experimental Farms. 



Fruit large, very dark red, nearly black when ripe; flesh sweet, nearly free from astringency; 



quality good; ripens in Manitoba the last of August. 



Chapman. P. avium. 1. Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt. 12,0. 1897. 2. Cal. Nur. Cat. t.:i\. 1898. 

 3. Ore. Nur. Cat. 21. 1903. 4. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 26. 1909. 

 Chapman was grown by W. H. Chapman of Napa, California, and is supposed to be 

 a seedling of Black Tartarian, surpassing that variety in size and earliness. By some 

 horticulturists Chapman and CaUfomia Advance are considered identical, but most growers, 

 particularly in California, declare the two to be distinct. Fruit matures early; very large, 

 roundish, purpUsh-black ; stem long, slender; flesh sHghtly tender; very good in quality; 

 stone small. 



Cheresoto. P. pumila X P americana. i. 5. Dak. Sta. Bui. I30.'i84, PL 10, PI. 11, 

 185. 1911. 

 Cheresoto is a cross between the Sand Cherry and the De Soto plum from the South 

 Dakota Experiment Station. The tree resembles the plum in growth but the fniit, in 

 looks and flavor, is Uke that of the Sand Cherry. Fruit rather long with a prickle at the 

 apex; about one and three-eighths inches in diameter; skin black with a bluish bloom, 

 thin, free from acerbity; flesh yellowish-green, sprightly; pit clinging. 



abandoned to become a nurseryman. Here, in the first successful nursery established in the region, were 

 trained Charles and Andrew Downing, receiving under the careful guidance of the father a knowledge 

 of the business and of fruits which with later self instruction made them the most distinguished pomol- 

 ogists of their day. With the death of the father in 1822, before Charles had obtained his majority, the 

 responsibility of conducting the business and the support of the family devolved upon him. Andrew J., 

 the younger brother, in 1834, at the age of 19, united with Charles in the management of the nursery 

 business under the firm name of C. & A. J. Downing, a partnership which lasted only until 1839. Charles 

 continued in the nursery business for many years during which time he became the foremost pomologist 

 in the United States and eventually, about 1850, sold his holdings to devote himself to the study of varie- 

 ties of fruits and the revision of the Fruits and Fruit Trees of America. This great pomological book was 

 projected and published by Andrew but most of the work of the book as it is now known was done by 

 Charles in revising the original and adding to its many editions. It is and has long been, as all know, 

 the highest authority on American fruits. Naturally of an inquiring turn of mind Charles Downing 

 studied closely the qualities of the varieties that came under his observation and seldorn described with- 

 out the fruit in hand. His variety orchard is said to have contained at one time i ,800 varieties of apples 

 and 1 ,000 pears with lesser numbers of the other fruits. A few trees of this wonderful collection still stand. 

 Charles Downing was one of the most modest and retiring of men, in his younger days delighting in the 

 things of which his brother wrote and seldom putting pen to paper until after his brother's death when 

 he became a regular contributor to horticultural publications over the signature " C. D." He was never 

 known to make a public speech. He earned his high distinction in American pomology by his accurate 

 and conscientious descriptions and discussions of varieties of fruits. 



