276 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



fruit. The latter is also dried as a preserve, bottled 

 in spirits, as brandy, whisky, &c., and converted into 

 very popular jam and pies. But its most popular and 

 general use is to be eaten raw for dessert. Feasts of 

 Cherries used also to be common, and stiU prevail 

 where Cherry orchards abound. The practice is to 

 pay a shilling for entrance, and consume the ripe 

 fruit till satisfied. , 



Classification of Cherries. — The fact of 

 Cherries varying so much in size, colour, form, 

 quality, and that the trees vary so widely in habit 

 and size, has doubtless strengthened the belief in 

 their dual or multiple origin from several species. 



The modem classification of Cherries into Bigar- 

 reaus, Geans, Dukes, and Morellos, exactly corre- 

 sponds with what we know of their history, and 

 their distinctive qualities. The fruit of the Bigarreaua 

 are mostly heart-shaped, hence the common name of 

 White and Black Hearts applied to them. The flesh 

 is firm, sweet, rich, mostly white or black ; flowers 

 and leaves large ; growth of trees strong, generally 

 horizontal. The Geans, or Kentish Cherries, form 

 round-headed trees ; the branches, being weaker, are 

 semi- pendulous ; fruit red or black, flesh sweet. The 

 May Dukes grow more into pyramidal form; the 

 fruit sweet, j uicy, round in form, and red or black 

 ia colour. The Morello forms a much lower tree ; 

 its weak branches render it semi-pendulous ; the 

 fruit is deep red, almost black when ripe, sharp and 

 acid. 



The French also throw their Cherries into four 

 classes, far less distinctive than our own. As, 

 however, a large trade is done in early French 

 Cherries, it may be useful to give their classification 

 here. Their Merisiers and Guigniers are one class, 

 and include the wild Cherries of the woods; red, 

 black, or white, and somewhat bitter. The Guigniers 

 are improved varieties of the Merisiers, the fruit 

 being larger, sweeter, the flesh softer. Their second 

 class, or Bigarreautiers, is synonyni(./us with our 

 Bigarreau, pr heart-shaped Cherries ; the flesh being 

 sweet, crisp, and firm. Their third class of the 

 Cerisiers includes aU the Maydukes, Kentish, and 

 Flemish Cherries ; the flesh being soft, tender, juicj', 

 and slightly acid. Their fourth class, the Griottiers, 

 is synonjTnous with our Morellos. 



Dr. Hogg, in the last edition (1884) of his Fruit 

 Manual, makes eight divisions of Cherries : — 



1. Black Geans Sweet, heart-shaped Cherries, 



with tender and dark-coloured flesh. 



2. Eed Geans. — Pale-coloured, sweet Cherries, with 

 tender and translucent flesh and skin. 



3. Black Hearts. — Dark-coloured, sweet Chen-ies, 

 with flesh harder than Black Geans, but neither so 

 firm nor crackling as that of the Bigarreau. 



4. White Hearts or Bigarreaus, with red or light- 

 coloured, mottled skin, and hard crackling flesh. 



5. Black Dukes. — Dark skin and flesh, and deep- 

 coloured juice. 



6. Eed Dukes. — Pale red, translucent skin and 



It 

 flesh, and uncoloured juice ; otherwise closely allied 



to Black Dukes. 



7. Black Morellos. — Dark-coloured fruit, with 

 coloured acid juice ; trees having long, slender, pen- 

 dent shoots. 



8. Eed Morellos. — Pale red, acid varieties, of 

 which the Kentish Cherry is the type. 



Propagation.-7-This is by budding and grafting 

 for the perpetuation of varieties, and by seeds for 

 new varieties and stocks. Taking the last first, 

 very few attempts are now made to raise improved 

 Cherries. The seeds of Cherries, are, however, 

 largely sown for furnishing stocks for established 

 varieties, those of the wild Geans, Maydukes, 

 Kentish, Morellos, being generally preferred for 

 this purpose. Of late years another species, the 

 Cerasus Mahaleb, has been largely raised from 

 seeds and layers as a stock for the smaller, best 

 ^nd pyramidal forms of Cherry-trees. This forms 

 a far better dwarfing stock than the Morello, and 

 will probably prove almost as useful in dwarfing 

 the, stature and increasing the fertility of Cherries, 

 as the Paradise stock has in insuring these most 

 desirable conditions among Apples. 



The best time to sow Cherry-stones is so soon as 

 the fruit is ripe and eaten, or they may be pitted in 

 sand or earth till the spring' 'Sow in' any light 

 friable soil, in drills eighteen inches apart, and two 

 inches deep. The seeds should be sown rather thinly, 

 and the plants may remain two years in the seed- 

 drills or beds. Line out at the end of the second sea- 

 son at convenient distances for working or proving. 



Budding and Grafting.— Dwarfs are best 

 budded at from six to eighteen inches ; orchard 

 standards or other trees at from three to six feet from 

 the ground. The best mode of grafting Cherries is a 

 sort of hybrid between budding and grafting — that 

 is, grafting or budding about midsummer, with the 

 section of wood left intact. Thus grafted in summer, 

 the union is speedily effected, and the result is al- 

 most as satisfactory in effecting a perfect union as 

 budding. 



Planting. — The Cherry, being an early tree, may 

 generally be planted from the middle to the end of 

 October. As to soil, the field that will grow good 

 Wheat ' will generally grow good Cherries. In the 

 olden times, when nearly all Cherries were worked 

 on the Eed or Black Gean, a good holding loam was 



