CHERRIES IN ENGLAND
Cultivated cherries came to England with the Romans. Prunus avium is indigenous in Great Britain but probably no care worthy the name cultivation was given these wild trees by the ancient Britons. Pliny states that the cherry was carried from Rome to Britain before the middle of the First Century—meaning probably some improved variety. In no part of the world does the cherry take more kindly to the soil than in England and no doubt this fruit became firmly established in Kent, where the Romans settled, before the downfall of the southern invaders. With the expulsion of the Romans and the subsequent influx of barbarians, agriculture, especially gardening and fruit-growing, became almost a lost art but still it is not probable that the cherry was wholly lost to cultivation during the Teutonic invasions of Britain.
Fruit-growing could not have greatly prospered, however, in the centuries of strife with the barbarians which succeeded Roman rule in England; and a revival of cherry culture did not take place until the reintroduction of Christianity and the establishment of monasteries where, undisturbed by wars, the monks became notable horticulturists. They not only had opportunity in the comparative peace in which their lives were cast to grow fruit but many of them were men of superior intelligence and skill and from intercourse with the continental countries learned what plants were worth growing and how to grow them—the monasteries were the experiment stations of the times. Undoubtedly the monks in bringing to England treasures from the continent did not forget fruits and among them cherries.
Passing by a considerable number of references which could be cited to show that cherries of one kind and another were cultivated in Britain from at least as early a date as the Ninth Century, we come to the discussion of this fruit by the herbalists of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Of the three great English herbalists, Turner published his work in 1538; Gerarde's, printed in 1596, was revised and greatly improved by Johnson in 1633; Parkinson's Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris, or Park-in-Suns Earthly Paradise—the author evidently a punster—was published in 1629. All of these contain as full botanical and pomological discussions of cherries as knowledge then permitted.
It must not be thought, by those unacquainted with the plant-lore of the times, that the cherry received consideration only from the pens of Turner, Gerarde, and Parkinson. During the time covered by the lives of these three men a score or more of books were written in English on botany and pomology in which accounts were given of the cherry, all showing the esteem in which this fruit was held in England during and before the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Space permits comments on the account of the cherry given by but one of these Elizabethan herbalists, and of the several Gerarde's seems best suited to our purpose.
We have chosen Gerarde because he treats the cherry more fully than do the other writers of the period and because he was a compiler and a translator, having, as he quaintly says, "perused divers Herbals set fourth in other languages;" thus from Gerarde we obtain a conception of cherries growing on the continent as well as those growing in England. Students of the English herbals say that Gerarde translated, copied and adapted from Matthiolus, whose book we have noted, but more particularly from Dodoens who in 1554 published in Antwerp A History of Plants. These two worthies, in turn, had borrowed very freely from still more ancient writers—Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Columella and others. As might be suspected, errors centuries old were passed down, yet each new translation or compilation contains much added information and is far freer from error. In particular, Gerarde seems to have been a wise compiler and adapter and to have combined a large measure of first-hand practical knowledge with his borrowings from others. This is especially true of what he writes concerning cherries, a fruit with which he seems to have been very familiar.
The following is Gerarde's account, with interpolations by the author:
"The ancient Herbalists have set down four kinds of Cherry trees; the first is great and wild, the second tame or of the garden, the third hath sour fruit, the fourth is that which is called in Latin Chamaecerasus, or the dwarfe Cherry tree. The later writers have found divers sorts more, some bringing forth great fruit, others lesser; some with white fruit, some with blacke, others of the colour of black bloud, varying infinitely according to the clymat and country where they grow."
The four cherries which Gerarde says the "ancient herbalists have set down" are, it is easy to see: first, the wild Prunus avium; second, cultivated sweet varieties of Prunus avium; third, the sour Prunus cerasus; fourth, the Dwarf Cherry, Prunus fruticosa.
"The English Cherry tree groweth to a high and great tree, the body whereof is of a mean bignesse, which is parted above into very many boughes, with a barke somewhat smooth, of a brown crimson colour, tough and pliable; the substance or timber is also brown in the middle, and the outer part is somewhat white: the leaves be great, broad, long, set with veins or nerves, and sleightly nicked about the edges: the floures are white, of a mean bigness, consisting of five leaves, and having certain threds in the middle of the like colour. The Cherries be round, hanging upon long stems or footstalks, with a stone in the middest which is covered with a pulp or soft meat; the kernell thereof is not unpleasant to the taste, though somewhat bitter."
This is Prunus avium, which is very generally wild in Britain—the Gean of the English.
"The Flanders Cherry tree differeth not from our English Cherry tree in Stature or form of leaves or floures, the only difference is, that this tree brings forth his fruit sooner and greater than the other, wherefore it may be called in Latine, Cerasus praecox, sive Belgica."
A cherry which "brings forth his fruit sooner and greater than the other" can be no other than one of the early varieties of the Sweet Cherry.
"The Spanish Cherry tree groweth up to the height of our common Cherry tree, the wood or timber is soft and loose, covered with a whitish scaly barke, the branches are knotty, greater and fuller of substance than any other Cherry tree; the leaves are likewise greater and longer than any of the rest, in shape like those of the Chestnut tree: the floures are like the others in form, but whiter of colour; the fruit is greater and longer than any, white for the most part all over, except those that stand in the hottest place where the sun hath some reflexion against a wall: they are also white within, and of a pleasant taste."
We have in this description a very good pen picture of Yellow Spanish, one of the Bigarreaus, of which there must have been several in common cultivation in Gerarde's time.
"The Gascoin Cherry tree groweth very like to the Spanish Cherry tree in stature, flours and leaves: it differeth in that it bringeth forth very great Cherries, long, sharp pointed, with a certain hollownesse upon one side, and spotted here and there with certain prickles of purple color as smal as sand. The taste is most pleasant, and excelleth in beauty."
Gascoin, sometimes "Gaskin" in England, is a corruption of Gascoigne, a name applied by the French to cherries produced in Gascony and said to have been brought to England by Joan of Kent when her husband, the Black Prince, was commanding in Guienne and Gascony. The variety is a very good Sweet Cherry, no doubt the one described in this text under the name Bleeding Heart.
"The late ripe Cherry tree groweth up like unto our wild English Cherry tree, with the like leaves, branches and floures, saving that they are sometimes once doubled; the fruit is small, round, and of a darke bloudy colour when they be ripe, which the Frenchmen gather with their stalkes, and hang them up in their houses in bunches or handfulls against Winter, which the Physitions do give unto their patients in hot and burning fevers, being first steeped in a little warme water, that causeth them to swell and plumpe as full and fresh as when they did grow upon the tree.
"The Cluster Cherry tree differeth not from the last described either in leaves, branches, or stature: the floures are also like, but never commeth any one of them to be double. The fruit is round, red when they be ripe, and many growing upon one stem or foot-stalke in clusters, like as the Grapes do. The taste is not unpleasant although somewhat soure."
These two cherries, one sees at once, are varieties of Prunus cerasus. The first, Gerarde identifies for us on a succeeding page as the Morello. He says of it: "The late ripe cherries which the Frenchmen keepe dried against the winter, and are by them called Morelle, and wee after the same name call them Morell Cherries.
"This Cherrie-tree with double floures growes up unto a small tree, not unlike to the common Cherrie-tree in each respect, saving that the floures are somewhat double, that is to say, three or foure times double; after which commeth fruit (though in small quantitie) like the other common Cherry.
"The double floured Cherry-tree growes up like unto an hedge bush, but not so great nor high as any of the others, the leaves and branches differ not from the rest of the Cherry-tree. The floures hereof are exceeding double, as are the flours of Marigolds, but of a white colour, and smelling somewhat like the Hawthorne floures; after which come seldome or never any fruit, although some Authors have said that it beareth sometimes fruit, which my selfe have not at any time seen; notwithstanding the tree hath growne in my Garden many yeeres, and that in an excellent good place by a bricke wall, where it hath the reflection of the South Sunne, fit for a tree that is not willing to beare fruit in our cold climat."
These two are double-flowered cherries, several of which seem to have been grown as ornamentals. Both belong to Prunus cerasus and as we gather rather better elsewhere than here, both are of the Amarelle type of tree.
"The Birds Cherry-tree, or the blacke Cherry-tree, that bringeth forth very much fruit upon one branch (which better may be understood by sight of the figure, than by words) springeth up like an Hedge tree of small stature, it groweth in the wilde woods of Kent, and are there used for stockes to graft other Cherries upon, of better tast, and more profit, as especially those called the Flanders Cherries: this wilde tree growes very plentifully in the North of England, especially at a place called Heggdale, neere unto Rosgill in Westmerland, and in divers other places about Crosbie Ravenswaith, and there called Hegberrie-tree: it groweth likewise in Martome Parke, foure miles from Blackeburne, and in Harward neere thereunto; in Lancashire almost in every hedge; the leaves and branches differ not from those of the wilde Cherry-tree: the floures grow alongst the small branches, consisting of five small white leaves, with some greenish and yellow thrums in the middle: after which come the fruit, greene at the first, blacke when they be ripe, and of the bignesse of Sloes; of an harsh and unpleasant taste.
"The other birds Cherry-tree differeth not from the former in any respect, but in the colour of the berries; for as they are blacke; so on the contrary, these are red when they be ripe, wherein they differ."
The cherries described in these two paragraphs, one black and one red, "that bringeth forth very much fruit upon one branch" and "groweth in the wilde woods" and "of an harsh and unpleasant taste" are of course the Prunus padus of Britain and most of Europe—not a true cherry but the racemose Bird Cherry, or Choke Cherry.
"The common blacke Cherry-tree growes up in some places to great stature: there is no difference between it and our common Cherry-tree, saving that the fruit hereof is very little in respect of other Cherries, and of a blacke colour."
This must be some wild Gean or Mazzard.
"The dwarfe Cherry-tree groweth very seldome to the height of three cubits: the trunke or body small, covered with a darke coloured blacke: whereupon do grow very limber and pliant twiggie branches: the leaves are very small, not much unlike to those of the Privite bush: the floures are small and white: after which come Cherries of a deepe red colour when they be ripe, of taste somewhat sharpe, but not greatly unpleasant: the branches laid downe in the earth, quickely take root, whereby it is greatly increased."
Here we have Prunus fruticosa very well described.
"My selfe with divers others have sundry other sorts in our gardens, one called the Hart Cherry, the greater and the lesser; one of the great bignesse, and most pleasant in taste, which we call Luke Wardes Cherry, because he was the first that brought the same out of Italy; another we have called the Naples Cherry, because it was first brought into these parts from Naples: the fruit is very great, sharpe pointed, somewhat like a man's heart in shape, of a pleasant taste, and of a deepe blackish colour when it is ripe, as it were of the colour of dried bloud."
Gerarde's Hart is probably one of the Heart cherries, while "Luke Wardes Cherry" is one of the oldest named Sweet Cherries known in England, having been mentioned by Parkinson and other of the herbalists as well as in this list.
"We have another that bringeth forth Cherries also very great, bigger than any Flanders Cherrie, of the colour of Jet, or burnished horn, and of a most pleasant taste, as witnesseth Mr. Bull, the Queenes Majesties Clockmaker, who did taste of the fruit (the tree bearing onely one cherry, which he did eat; but my selfe never tasted of it) at the impression hereof. We have also another, called the Agriot Cherry, of a reasonable good taste. Another we have with fruit of a dun colour, tending to a watchet. We have one of the Dwarfe Cherries, that bringeth forth fruit as great as most of our Flanders Cherries, whereas the common sort hath very small Cherries, and those of an harsh taste. These and many sorts more we have in our London gardens, whereof to write particularly would greatly enlarge our volume, and to small purpose: therefore, what hath beene said shall suffice. I must here (as I have formerly done, in Peares, Apples, and other such fruites) refer you to my two friends, Mr. John Parkinson, and Mr. John Millen, the one to furnish you with the history, and the other with the things themselves, if you desire them."
One can only roughly surmise as to what the cherries mentioned in this paragraph are with the exception of the Agriot which is, if the synonymy of several European pomologists be correct, the Griotte Commune, a sort supposed to have been brought from Syria by the crusaders and to have been recorded under the last name in France as early as 1485.
The end of the Seventeenth Century saw a great revival of agriculture in all of its branches on the continent; in England the revival began with the fall of the commonwealth. From this time the progress of cherry culture has been so rapid and so great that it would be an endless task to give even a cursory view of it—a task unnecessary, too, for succeeding the herbalists a great number of botanies, pomologies and works on agriculture were published to many of which reference is still easy. Moreover, the histories of varieties in this text carry us back quite to the beginning of the Eighteenth Century.
There now remains for the history of the cherry but to sketch its introduction and culture in North America, an undertaking that can be done briefly and to the point, for the data are abundant, recent and reliable. Here, too, accounts of the origin of varieties and the development of the cherry may be looked for in the chapters which comprise the main part of the book.