DOUBLE NATTE

Prunus cerasus

Budd's importations of Russian cherries, to which reference is so often made in this text, brought forth almost universal praise for any and all of the foreign sorts. Cultural tests soon demonstrated, however, that most of the varieties were comparatively worthless; Double Natte is one of these. It is a very mediocre cherry of the Morello group in nowise equal to English Morello except when earliness is a prime requisite, this sort being one of the earliest of the Morellos. In flavor it is equal to English Morello but is no better. At Geneva the trees are seldom very fruitful. From the eulogistic reports of its behavior in the Middle West it would seem that it was better adapted to Iowa, for instance, than for New York.

This variety was first mentioned by Knoop, the Dutch pomologist, in 1771—origin not given. Some years ago Professor J. L. Budd also imported from Russia a cherry under the name Riga No. 18. This cherry has been grown as a separate variety under the name Riga but the descriptions of it are all identical with those of Double Natte and there can be no doubt but that they are one and the same.

DOUBLE NATTE

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, somewhat vasiform, productive; trunk and branches smooth; branches brown nearly covered with ash-gray, with a few large lenticels; branchlets long, with short internodes, brown partly covered with ash-gray, smooth, with a few very large, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three and three-eighths inches long, one and three-fourths inches wide, folded upward, short-obovate, thick, stiff; upper surface glossy, slightly rugose; lower surface pale green, thinly pubescent; apex sharp-pointed, tapering toward the base; margin coarsely serrate, glandular; petiole thick, dull red, grooved on the upper surface, nearly one inch long, glandless or with one or two small glands at the base of the blade.

Buds conical or pointed, plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds and in small clusters on spurs; leaf-scars inconspicuous; season of bloom intermediate; flowers white, one and one-fourth inches across; borne in scattering clusters in twos and threes; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube with a faint reddish tinge, campanulate, glabrous; calyx-lobes tinged red, long, acute, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals obovate, entire, tapering to short, narrow claws, with a broad but shallow notch at the apex; filaments about one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, shorter than the stamens.

Fruit matures early; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, cordate to conical, compressed; cavity somewhat abrupt, regular; suture deep, distinct, often extending entirely around the fruit; apex depressed; color dark red; dots numerous, small, brownish, obscure; stem slender, one and three-fourths inches long, adheres strongly to the fruit; skin thin, tough, separating readily from the pulp; flesh dark red, with reddish juice, tender and melting, sprightly, sour; good to very good in quality; stone nearly free, longer than wide, nearly round, slightly flattened, with smooth surfaces; somewhat ridged along the ventral suture.

DOWNER

Prunus avium