1880. ] 
BLACK TARTARIAN CHERRY. 
169 
the Tulip, and the Carnation and Picotee 
Shows, hut they are all held in or near Man¬ 
chester, and each brings a few individuals to¬ 
gether once in twelve months. The Auri¬ 
cula-growers will come a few miles to have a 
look at the flowers, and go home again without 
getting much information, or being stimulated 
to greater exertions. It is much the same 
with the Tulip-growers ; they, indeed, have a 
dinner, and what may be termed a dinner-hour 
afterwards, but the time is taken up in settling 
matters, and arranging about the next year’s 
show ; then the members disperse, some of 
them going back to the show-rooms in order to 
scrutinise and take notes of the flowers—which 
it is quite right and proper to do, and which 
no thorough earnest florist would neglect 
to do, as it is his one opportunity to satisfy 
himself about the merits of the flowers, whether 
old or new. We want more of these local 
societies to be revived.— John Herworth, 
Huddersfield. 
BLACK TARTARIAN CHERRY. 
[Plate 526.] 
UR figure of this excellent and most 
to the kindness of Mr. G. T. Miles, gardener to 
Lord Carington, at Wycombe Abbey. The 
appearance of the fruit is not at all exaggerated 
in the accompanying plate. It is an old 
variety, having been, according to Hooker, in¬ 
troduced in 1794, by Mr. Ronalds, of Brent¬ 
ford, and like most other good fruits, bears a 
variety of names, of which the chief are Black 
Circassian, Black Russian, Ronalds’ Large 
Black Heart, Fraser’s Black Tartarian, &c. 
The fruit is large, and of an obtusely heart- 
shaped figure : the colour purplish, becoming of 
a shining black when fully ripe ; the stalk is 
slender, an inch and a half long or upwards ; 
the flesh is purplish, rather tender, with abund¬ 
ant purplish juice, and a rich luscious flavour; 
the stone is medium-sized. The tree is per¬ 
fectly hardy, and the fruit ripens on east or 
west walls about the end of June or in July. 
We are indebted to Mr. Miles for the following 
remarks in reference to this fine Cherry : — 
The Black Tartarian Cherry is the best 
of all the choice black varieties with which 
I am acquainted, and a variety which is 
indispensable in every garden. It also pos¬ 
sesses the merit of being a superior kind 
for cultivation in glass-houses, and for forcing 
purposes. The fruits represented in the accom¬ 
panying plate were produced under the latter 
conditions. A few remarks upon the subject 
of cultivation and forcing may with pro¬ 
priety be considered admissible here. 
An impression prevails very extensively, even 
in the minds of many practical men, that the 
cultivation and forcing of this luscious fruit are 
attended with considerable difficulty, and so 
much uncertainty, as to make the matter 
hardly worth the trouble and expense it in¬ 
volves. Now this is a most erroneous notion, 
at least I have found it to be so, as after 
nearly twenty years’ practice and experience in 
the matter, I am convinced that a crop of 
Cherries is as surely obtainable in this way 
year by year consecutively, as is one of peaches 
or nectarines, or any other kind of fruit placed 
under similar conditions. I have found the 
Cherry-house here to be a useful adjunct in 
furnishing a supply of luscious fruit, at a 
time when fresh fruits are limited in variety, 
exceedingly scarce, and much required. 
Cherry-trees are, of all fruit-trees which are 
advanced by means of forcing operations, those 
which require the least heat, and, consequently, 
are thereby the least expensive. Those who 
may contemplate their cultivation under these 
conditions should remember that no stone fruit 
is more impatient of heat than the Cherry, and 
the greatest danger of failure would most likely 
proceed from overheating or want of proper 
ventilation, or both combined. The house 
selected for the purpose should, therefore, be 
so constructed that a free course of fresh air may 
pass through it, whenever it may be expedient; 
and in the case of forced trees, it will be so 
much the better if the sashes are of a move- 
able kind. The best varieties for forcing com¬ 
prise Black Tartarian (Circassian), May Duke, 
and Frogmore, amongst black kinds ; and Elton, 
Governor Wood, Bigarreau, and Bigarreau Na¬ 
poleon, of the light section. 
Good friable loam, with an admixture of road- 
scrapings, forms the best compost for Cherry- 
trees. This should be placed about 60 inches 
thick on a well drained border, with about 
16 inches of rubble beneath it. Trees of four 
or five seasons’ growth are the most suitable in 
size, and most profitable for the purpose. In 
