MERCER

Prunus avium

This comparatively new Bigarreau is on probation in many parts of the State and country, otherwise we should not give it prominence in The Cherries of New York, as the variety is all but worthless as it grows on the grounds of this Station. The trees are not sufficiently fruitful, the cherries are too small, the flavor in none too good and the fruit is not at all resistant to brown-rot—four fatal defects for a commercial cherry.

This variety is reported to have sprung from a pit of a Mazzard tree and was introduced several years ago by Black & Son of Hightstown, New Jersey. The name, Mercer, after the county in New Jersey from which it was introduced, was given the cherry by H. E. Van Deman, then United States Pomologist.

Tree vigorous, healthy, not always productive; branches long, grayish-brown, smooth, with a few small, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaves numerous, four and one-half inches long, two and one-fourth inches wide, folded upward, long-oval, leathery; upper surface dark green, smooth; lower surface light green, pubescent, grooved along the midrib; apex taper-pointed, base abrupt; margin coarsely and doubly serrate, glandular; petiole one and one-half inches long, tinged with dull red, thick, with from two to five very large, reniform, reddish glands, variable in position.

Buds of medium size and length, conical, plump, free; leaf-scars rather prominent; season of bloom early; flowers one and one-fourth inches across, in scattering clusters in twos and threes; pedicels three-fourths inch long, glabrous; calyx-tube green or faintly tinged red, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes greenish streaked with red along the edges, long, obtuse, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals broad-oval, entire, slightly indented at the apex, tapering to short, blunt claws; filaments one-half inch long, shorter than the petals; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures in mid-season; small, cordate to blunt-conic, compressed; cavity shallow, narrow, abrupt; suture an indistinct line; apex flattened or depressed; color black; dots small, numerous, obscure; stem slender, one and one-fourth inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin thin, rather tender; flesh reddish, with dark colored juice, tender, meaty, crisp, aromatic, mild flavored, sweet; fair to good in quality; stone free or semi-clinging, variable in size, ovate, flattened, blunt-pointed, with smooth surfaces, tinged with red.