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XXXV. A Report upon the principal Varieties of the Cherry culti- 

 vated in the Garden of the Society. By Mr. Robert Thompson, 

 Under Gardener in the Fruit Department. 



Read October 16, 1832. 



Th e following account of the varieties of Cherry cultivated in the 

 Garden of the Society is by no means a complete one of the whole 

 species, but on the contrary refers to such only as have fruited, 

 and been sufficiently examined by myself. It is however probable 

 that it comprehends most of the really important sorts ; and that 

 what are omitted are generally of inferior quality. 



In this, as in almost all similar enquiries, we have found ourselves 

 very much embarrassed by the constant errors, or misnomers of 

 those who have supplied the trees cultivated in the Garden ; a cir- 

 cumstance which has not only retarded the appearance of this and 

 many other reports of the like nature, but which also is still pro- 

 ductive of uncertainty as to the exactness of some of the synonyms 

 I have quoted. 



The object of the Report being simply to give such practical 

 information as the Society possesses upon the subject, it has been 

 considered unnecessary to repeat the well known tradition of the 

 Cherry having been originally obtained from Cerasus or Chirisonda 

 by the Roman general Lucullus, or those other historical particulars 

 which are to be found in the works of every writer upon pomolo- 

 gical matters. 



In the classification of the varieties of the Cherry the French 

 have certainly been more successful than any others, and it is their 

 method of arrangement that pomological writers chiefly adopt; 



