DOWNER

Prunus avium

Downer is a Sweet Cherry, one of the so-called "Hearts" much prized by those who know it as a late cherry delicately and richly flavored. Possibly it is the best of the late Sweet Cherries. Several defects keep it from being of any considerable worth; it thrives only in the choicest soils; the trees are often unhealthy as well as lacking in vigor; the flesh is thin and the stone is large; and, though the cherries set abundantly, the yield is small because the fruits are small. So, while the variety is almost indispensable in a home orchard, ripening after almost all of the dessert cherries have gone, Downer has small place in a commercial plantation. It should be said further in its favor, however, as a commercial fruit, that it stands harvesting and shipping very well.

Downer takes the name of Samuel Downer, Dorchester, Massachusetts, who grew it some time before 1832 when it first found a place in pomological works. It was included by the American Pomological Society in its schedule of fruits in 1848 as Downer's Late. It now appears as Downer with Downer's Late Red as a synonym in accordance with the rules of the Society.

DOWNER

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, dense-topped, productive; trunk thick, with shaggy bark; branches thick, roughened, dark brown overspread with dark gray, with numerous large lenticels; branchlets slender, long, brown partly covered with ash-gray, smooth, with inconspicuous, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, obovate, rather stiff; upper surface dark green; lower surface light green, hairy along the veins; apex acute, base abrupt; margin doubly serrate, glandular; petiole one inch long, thick, dark red, grooved, glandless or with from one to three large, globose or reniform glands on the stalk.

Buds small, except the terminals which are large, pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds, or in small clusters on short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across; borne in thin clusters in ones and in twos; pedicels variable in length often one inch long, glabrous; calyx-tube faintly tinged with red, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes tinged with red, acuminate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals roundish, entire, somewhat sessile, with a shallow notch at the apex; pistil glabrous, nearly equal to the stamens in length, often defective.

Fruit matures among the latest; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, roundish-cordate, slightly compressed; cavity very shallow, flaring; suture obscure; apex variable in shape usually somewhat pointed; color light to dark red frequently showing an amber background on the shaded side; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem one and three-fourths inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin tough, separating from the pulp; flesh pale yellow, with colorless juice, somewhat stringy, tender, with soft flesh, mild and pleasant, sweet when fully ripe; good to very good in quality; stone large, free, ovate, flattened, with smooth surfaces; somewhat ridged along the ventral suture.