This variety came to light in written records in the early part of the Nineteenth Century in German fruit-books under the name Saure Herzkirsche or Herzkirschweichsel and was highly recommended for its fine flavor. Professor J. L. Budd of Iowa, in one of his European trips, was impressed with its symmetrical habit of growth and its abundant foliage where he found it growing in eastern Europe as a lawn tree. He included it among his importations but it has not proved valuable in the New World.

Tree large, vigorous, upright-spreading, open-topped, unproductive; branches rather slender, smooth except for the large, conspicuous lenticels; branchlets slender, long; leaves numerous, two and three-fourths inches long, one and three-eighths inches wide, obovate to oval, thin, dark green, smooth; petiole over one-half inch long, tinged with red, with from one to three small, globose, greenish-yellow or brownish glands at the base of the blade; buds intermediate in size and length, usually obtuse; season of bloom late; flowers one inch across; borne in scattered clusters; filaments one-fourth inch long; pistil slightly shorter than the stamens, often defective.

Fruit matures in mid-season; about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, roundish-conic, slightly compressed; color very dark, dull red; stem slender, one and one-fourth inches long, adhering to the fruit; skin thin, tough; flesh very dark red, with dark wine-colored juice, tender, rather meaty, very astringent, sour; of poor quality; stone nearly free, small, ovate, flattened, pointed, with roughish and colored surfaces.

HILDESHEIM

Prunus avium

This variety, one of the oldest, has been called by a great number of names by European writers. The cherry mentioned by Duhamel, in 1768, as a late Guigne with red fruit, otherwise known as Guigne de Fer, can be no other than Hildesheim. The exact origin of the variety has never been known, though it is supposed to have sprung up in the neighborhood of Hildesheim, Prussia. It was brought to America early in the Nineteenth Century, probably by William Prince. With it came some of the numerous foreign names. It seems certain that Late Red Guigne mentioned by Prince was Hildesheim. Ripening late and being small and of rather undesirable texture, Hildesheim did not meet with much favor in America, never being widely disseminated, and has long since passed from cultivation. This variety, under the name Belle Agathe, was propagated in Belgium by M. Thiery about 1852 and for some time was supposed to be a separate sort. The following description is compiled:

Tree very large, vigorous, upright, hardy, an annual bearer, unproductive while young producing good crops later; branches thick, large, long, straight; leaves numerous, of medium size, oval or elongated-oval, acuminate; margin finely and regularly serrate; petiole slender, rather short, tinged red, with large, flattened glands; blooming season early.

Fruit matures very late, usually attached in fives but sometimes in threes and fours; small to medium, roundish-cordate, flattened on one side, somewhat irregular; color yellowish, mottled and marbled with dark red; stem two inches long, slender, somewhat curved; skin thick; flesh pale yellow, slightly tinged with red at the pit, firm, somewhat stringy, rather dry, with uncolored juice, pleasant flavored, sweet; quality good; stone medium to large, with reddish surface, long, compressed.

IDA

Prunus avium