To H. T. Harris of Stamford, Kentucky, belongs the honor of introducing this well-known cherry. Although its parentage is unknown, it is almost certain that a Mr. Dyehouse, Lincoln County, Kentucky, raised the tree from a pit sixty or more years ago. At the time of its introduction its characteristics were not clearly drawn and many believed it to be the Early Richmond. In time, however, differences were shown, as we have set forth in the preceding paragraph. It was added to the fruit list of the American Pomological Society in 1897.

DYEHOUSE

Tree small, vigorous, spreading, with drooping branchlets, dense, round-topped, productive; trunk and branches slightly roughened; branches reddish-brown covered with dark ash-gray, with large, elongated, raised lenticels; branchlets slender, willowy, variable in length, brown overspread with ash-gray, smooth, with a few small, inconspicuous lenticels.

Leaves numerous, three inches long, one and one-half inches wide, slightly folded upward, obovate to long-oval; upper surface very dark green, smooth; lower surface light green, with a few hairs along the midrib; apex acute, base variable in shape; margin finely serrate, with small, dark glands; petiole one-half inch long, tinged with dull red, with a few hairs along the grooved upper surface, with from one to three small, globose, greenish-yellow glands at the base of the blade.

Buds small, short, obtuse, plump, free, arranged singly and in clusters on short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers one inch across, white; borne in dense but well-distributed clusters, usually at the ends of spur-like branches, in twos, threes or fours; pedicels one and one-half inches long, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube green, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes tinged with red, serrate, glabrous within and without, reflexed; petals roundish-obovate, entire, almost sessile, with entire apex; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil glabrous, nearly equal to the stamens in length.

Fruit matures early; more than one-half inch in diameter, oblate, slightly compressed; cavity of medium depth, narrow, abrupt, regular; suture indistinct; apex flattened, with a small depression at the center; color dark red; dots numerous, small, obscure; stem one inch long, adhering to the pulp; skin thin, tough; flesh light yellowish-white, with pinkish juice, tender, sprightly, tart; of very good quality; stone nearly free, ovate, slightly flattened, with smooth surfaces; somewhat ridged along the ventral suture.

EAGLE

Prunus avium

We hesitatingly follow the American Pomological Society in calling this variety Eagle when it has so long been known as Black Eagle, the name given it by the great pomologist, Knight. Were this choicely good cherry larger in size, it would still be a prime favorite with growers for in many respects it is one of the best varieties of its species. Its flavor is excellent; the trees are usually fruitful; it ripens at a good time in the cherry season, just after Black Tartarian; the cherries are less liable to crack than many of its rivals; and the trees are as hardy, healthy and vigorous as those of any Sweet Cherry. Some complain that the trees do not bear well at first but are productive only with age. But, after all, it is its high quality that gives Eagle so much merit that it ought not to be forgotten—makes it worth a place in every home orchard and commends it highly to commercial growers of cherries who want a finely finished product for either local or general market. The fruit-stems of this variety are characteristically long.

Eagle was grown about 1806 by Sir Thomas Andrew Knight at Downton Castle, Wiltshire, England, by fertilizing the Bigarreau of the old writers, our Yellow Spanish, with pollen of the May Duke. The correctness of the parentage as given has been questioned because of its inherited characteristics. But if the May Duke is a hybrid between a Sweet and a Sour, a pure Sweet offspring is not an impossibility. In 1823, Honorable John Lowell of Massachusetts received Eagle from Knight. Prince mentioned this cherry in his Treatise of Horticulture, 1828, but the exact date of its introduction into New York is unknown. In 1848 it was placed on the list of fruits adopted by the National Convention of Fruit Growers and since then it has been retained on the fruit list of the American Pomological Society.