THE
CHERRIES OF NEW YORK

BY
U. P. HEDRICK

ASSISTED BY

Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1914
II

ALBANY
J. B. LYON COMPANY, STATE PRINTERS
1915

NEW YORK AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION,

Geneva, N. Y., January 12, 1915

To the Honorable Board of Control of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station:

Gentlemen:—I have the honor to transmit herewith the manuscript copy for Part II of the 33d Annual Report of this Station. This contribution is the fourth monograph on the fruits of New York State, prepared under your direction by the Horticulturist of this institution and his associates.

The cherry, which this manuscript discusses, is undoubtedly most widely grown of the tree-fruits of the State; for within easy reach of every rural housewife—in orchard or garden, along roadside or lane—the "pie cherry" will be found; and many a lawn, even in village or city, is graced by the stately trees which bear the delicious Yellow Spanish or Black Tartarian. In many parts of the State, also, cherry growing is an industry of much commercial importance, with orchards exceeded in value by those of the apple and peach alone.

Because of its widespread popularity and commercial importance the cherry well merits treatment in this place in the series of monographs. It is hoped and believed that the growers and lovers of the fruit will appreciate and utilize to good advantage the result here presented of years of painstaking work by the authors. The discussions are based not alone on Station experience with hundreds of the thousand or more varieties described, but as well upon the collected observations of many cherry growers and the expressed judgments of the leading pomologists who have been interested in this fruit.

W. H. JORDAN,

Director

PREFACE

This is the fourth of the monographs on the fruits of temperate North America published by the New York Agricultural Experiment Station. The nature and purposes of these treatises have been set forth in the prefaces of preceding volumes, but a summary of the purposes, with needed emphasis on several, is given for the convenience of all readers and the enlightenment of those who may not have the first three books.

The Cherries of New York contains an historical account of cultivated cherries, the botany of this fruit, a statement of its present economic status in America, descriptions of all known varieties of cherries, the synonymy and bibliography of the species and varieties, and biographical sketches of the persons who have contributed materially to cherry culture in America. The most important varieties are illustrated in colors. Everything that was thought would be helpful in breeding cherries has been included, and special search has been made for such material. So, too, whatever was thought to be of interest to students of ecology and of plant distribution has been added.

In the monographs on grapes and plums it was necessary to devote much space to the botanical relationship of these fruits since each contains more than a score of species under cultivation, some of which are scarcely known and most of which are extremely variable. The botany of cultivated cherries is comparatively simple and has been made plain by botanical writers. Yet the contemplation of the several species from a horticultural standpoint adds something, we believe, to the botany of cherries, especially as concerns the forms of the Sweet Cherry and the Sour Cherry which have been variously treated by botanists.

As compared with their congeners, especially the plums, the economic species of cherries are remarkably well delimited, showing far less responsiveness to environment and having seemingly less inherent variation, so that there need be little confusion in botanical classification. On the other hand varieties are so similar that it is only with the greatest difficulty that closely related sorts are distinguished and there is great confusion in the synonymy, the chief task of the present work being to distinguish the true names from the synonyms of the varieties described.

In The Cherries of New York, as in the preceding fruit books from this Station, effort has been made to give as accurately as possible the region in which the species and varieties grow best and to set forth fully the local prejudices of the fruits. Such knowledge cannot but be of value in determining the factors which govern the distribution of plants. The establishment of community relationships and description of plant communities now constitute an important part of botany on the one side and of geography on the other. No phenomena give better expression of the climate and the soil of a region than plant communities. When monographs of several of the fruits of temperate North America shall have been completed, with statements of likes and dislikes of the fruits and their varieties as to climate and soil, material should be available to establish plant communities from which can be drawn valuable generalizations.

All, howsoever interested in pomology, are dependent upon descriptions of fruits. A well-made description of a fruit, to one mentally equipped to interpret it, is second only, in the study of pomology, to having the fruit itself. With but few exceptions the descriptions of the major varieties are made first hand from cherries growing on the Station grounds, though in many cases fruits from different localities have been compared with those home-grown.

Since there are fewer varieties of cherries than of plums, it has been possible to describe and illustrate a greater proportion of the sorts under cultivation than in the book on plums, yet a selection has had to be made of the worthiest of the many kinds. The choice of sorts for full descriptions and color-plates has been determined: (1) By the present value of the variety; (2) the probable value if the variety be a novelty; (3) by the value of the data to the cherry breeder; (4) because of historical value—to show what the trend of cherry evolution has been; (5) to show the relationships of species and varieties. The varieties not illustrated nor fully described are divided into two further groups in accordance with the same considerations.

In botanical nomenclature the code adopted by the International Botanical Congress, held at Vienna in 1905, has been used. In the use of horticultural names we have followed somewhat closely the rules of the American Pomological Society, though in many cases strict observance of these rules, poor at best, would have added to rather than lessened the confusion in horticultural nomenclature and, therefore, they have been honored in the breach rather than in the observance.

The references given are those that have been of use in ascertaining the history, the economic status, or the description of the variety that follows—no more, no fewer. These constitute a very small proportion of the references that have been read—a tremendous task involving two or three years' work for several persons.

So, too, it has been a herculean task to search out the