Account of three new Cherries 209 



which remained ; and the Fruit Committee will, I believe, 

 decide that I have not been disappointed. I nevertheless think, 

 that they have only seen it in a very imperfect state : for the 

 first fruit of young Cherry trees is never perfect. Of this fact 

 the first produce of the Black Eagle Cherry tree afforded a 

 striking example ; I sent a part of it, with other Cherries, to 

 the Horticultural Society ; and it was then in my estimation, 

 as the Fruit Committee found it, positively good for nothing. 

 It was so bad, that I should most certainly have taken off 

 the head of the tree, and employed its stem as a stock, but 

 that it had been called the property of one of my children, 

 who sowed the seed which produced it, and who felt very 

 anxious for its preservation; and I suffered it to retain 

 its head, lest by destroying it, I might also destroy the 

 fondness for a pursuit, which I had laboured with some 

 success to create. The fruit, which it has subsequently pro- 

 duced, rivals, I believe, in richness, if it does not exceed, that 

 of any Cherry we possess, when produced by as young a 

 tree. 



The blossoms of the Waterloo Cherry expand somewhat 

 later than those of the Elton and Black Eagle, and it ripens 

 some days later. I had reason, in the last spring to think its 

 blossoms very hardy, like those of the May Duke : for the 

 whole of it set very freely, and none of the fruit fell prema- 

 turely. On approaching maturity, however, one side of 

 the greater part of the berries presented a dark livid colour; 

 and my gardener was, for some days, perfectly confident, 

 that the whole crop was going to decay, instead of ripening. 

 It nevertheless ripened perfectly, and acquired, in ripening, a 

 rich and deep red colour, nearly black, being scarcely a shade 



VOL. II. F f 



