THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



and elsewhere, and in America in the preparation of 

 maraschino cherries. 



Theophrastus in his "History of Plants," written 

 some 300 years before the Christian era, gives a good 

 description of the Sweet Cherry but in ancient 

 Greece it was little esteemed as a fruit tree. Pliny 

 states that Lucullus, the Roman soldier and epicure, 

 brought them to Rome 65 years before the birth of 

 Christ; but that Pliny was in error is proved by the 

 illustrious Roman scholar, Marcus Terentius Varro, 

 who in his book on farming written in 37 b. c, 

 treats of them as commonplace orchard trees of the 

 period and tells when and how to graft them. The 

 Romans carried cultivated varieties of Cherries to 

 England and this fruit tree became well established 

 in Kent during their occupation of Britain. In the 

 time of Henry VI 11 and Queen Elizabeth the cherry 

 was a highly favoured fruit and an excellent account 

 of it is given by the Elizabethan herbalist, Gerard. 



The cherry was one of the first fruit trees planted 

 in this country and was brought to New England 

 by the earliest settlers. Francis Higginson, writing 

 in 1629, states that the Red Kentish was the only 

 cherry cultivated in Massachusetts. In 1641 Cherry- 

 trees were on sale in a nursery in Massachusetts. 

 John Josselyn, who made voyages to New England 

 in 1638, 1639, 1663, in his "New England Rarities 



216 



