GEORGE GLASS
Prunus cerasus
- 1. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 328, 329. 1888. 2. Ia. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 79. 1890. 3. Mich. Hort. Soc. Rpt. 245. 1894. 4. Ia. Sta. Bul. 31:341. 1895. 5. Del. Sta. An. Rpt. 12:125. 1900. 6. Budd-Hansen Am. Hort. Man. 2:276, 277. 1903. 7. Ia. Sta. Bul. 73:70. 1903.
George Glass has been widely heralded as a desirable variety in the Middle West but in New York, where it has passed through a rather lengthy probationary period, practically all who have tried it are ready to declare it worthless. It is of the Amarelle group and cannot compete with the many good varieties of its kinship, as the Early Richmond or the several Montmorencies. Its season is between Early Richmond and Montmorency. As compared with the last-named variety, the standard Sour Cherry, the fruit of George Glass is smaller, sourer, less attractive in appearance and the trees are far less fruitful. Possibly the trees are more hardy, this character commending it for the colder parts of the Mississippi Valley.
The origin of this variety is uncertain but it is supposed to have been introduced into Iowa by immigrants from northeastern Germany. In American collections it has often been confused with Brusseler Braune and Bessarabian and by some is declared to be identical with the latter sort. It is supposed to be a cross between a Duke and a Morello cherry.
GEORGE GLASS
Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, rather open, hardy, appears unproductive; trunk thick; branches thick, roughened, with numerous conspicuous, raised lenticels; leaves numerous, four inches long, two inches wide, obovate, thick, stiff, dark green; petiole three-fourths of an inch long, tinged with red, with a few hairs along the upper surface, with one or two small, globose, reddish-orange glands, usually at the base of the blade; buds intermediate in size and length; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers one and one-fourth inches across; borne in dense clusters.
Fruit matures in mid-season; three-fourths of an inch long, one inch wide, oblate, compressed; cavity deep; color light red changing to dark red; stem one and one-eighth inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin separating from the pulp; flesh yellowish-white, with abundant colorless juice, stringy, tender and melting, rather mild for a sour cherry; good to very good in quality; stone free, roundish or slightly oblate, plump, blunt, with smooth surfaces; ventral suture prominent.