DOUBLE GLASS

Prunus avium × Prunus cerasus

Double Glass is a Duke, a hybrid more nearly resembling the Sweet Cherry than the Sour Cherry. The trees grow remarkably well in nursery and orchard and their behavior so pleased growers when the variety was brought to notice that it became for a time quite the vogue. But the trees turned out to be unproductive and the cherries so mediocre that the variety rapidly passed through its heyday of popularity. The fruits are curiously marked, the suture being so deep as to make them appear double—hence the name. The variety has no value where sweet sorts are hardy but possibly might find a niche somewhere in regions where a more tender Sweet Cherry cannot be grown.

This variety, of ancient and unknown origin, dates back at least to 1792 when Truchsess received it from Christ under the names Grosse Frühkirsche and Englische Erzherzogskirsche, both of which were incorrect, the first because it was not characteristic since the fruit did not ripen early, and the second because it denoted a class of dark-fleshed cherries. In France, Double Glass has long been cultivated under the name Amarelle Double de Verre. The variety was brought to America from Russia in 1883 by Professor J. L. Budd. While grown for a time in the Central States it was never highly regarded and has now nearly passed from cultivation. The following description is a compilation:

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading becoming divergent with age, usually hardy, rather unproductive; branchlets thick, reddish-brown; leaves healthy, small to medium, ovate, with serrated margins; buds large, prominent.

Fruit matures the latter part of June; usually large, roundish-oblate, with a very deep suture; color light red becoming much darker at maturity; stem long, thick; skin thin, tough, translucent; flesh yellowish, with abundant uncolored juice, firm, tender, sprightly; good in quality; stone medium in size, roundish.