Tree vigorous, upright-spreading, open, productive; trunk stout; branches thick, smooth, dull reddish-brown covered with ash-gray, with a few small lenticels; branchlets thick, reddish-brown slightly overspread with ash-gray, smooth, glabrous, with a few inconspicuous, raised lenticels.

Leaves numerous, four and one-half inches long, two and one-half inches wide, folded upward, obovate, thin; upper surface light green, smooth; lower surface dull green, lightly pubescent; apex acute, base abrupt; margin coarsely and doubly serrate, glandular; petiole one and one-half inches long, slender, tinged with dull red, with from one to three reniform, reddish glands on the stalk.

Buds large, long, pointed, very plump, free, arranged singly as lateral buds or in small clusters on short spurs; leaf-scars prominent; season of bloom intermediate; flowers one inch across, arranged in twos and threes; pedicels one inch long, slender, glabrous, greenish; calyx-tube tinged with red, obconic, glabrous; calyx-lobes reddish, long, acute, glabrous on both surfaces, reflexed; petals roundish, crenate, with short, blunt claws; anthers yellowish; filaments one-eighth inch long; pistil glabrous, equal to the stamens in length, sometimes defective.

Fruit matures in early mid-season; nearly one inch in diameter, roundish-cordate, compressed; cavity of medium depth, wide, flaring; suture variable in depth, distinct, wide; apex roundish; color shades of crimson on a yellowish-white background; dots numerous, small, light russet, somewhat conspicuous, especially just before maturity; stem slender, one and one-half inches long, adhering well to the fruit; skin thin, tender, separating from the pulp; flesh whitish, with colorless juice, tender, meaty, mild, sweet; very good in quality; stone clinging, rather large, roundish, blunt, with smooth surfaces; with a broad, ventral suture.

WRAGG

Prunus cerasus

Wragg is either English Morello or a strain of that variety. Trees on the grounds of this Station are identical with English Morello but it may be that here, and occasionally elsewhere, the older sort has been substituted for Wragg. In Iowa, where the new variety is most largely grown, pomologists claim that it is distinct and that it is an improvement on English Morello. Professor J. L. Budd, an authority on Russian cherries, believed that this sort is distinct and of Russian origin having, according to him, been brought to America by Ellwanger & Barry of Rochester, New York, in an importation of Russian trees. Captain C. L. Watrous of Des Moines, Iowa, another prominent pomologist of that State, was of the opinion that Wragg came to light on the grounds of J. Wragg, Waukee, Iowa, as a sprout from another tree. Colonel G. B. Brackett, pomologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, who visited Mr. Wragg's place some years ago and compared the new cherry with the English Morello, could find no distinguishing characters between the two. On the other hand, Mr. Wragg insisted that they were distinct. The American Pomological Society calls Wragg and English Morello the same. Those who believe that the two are distinct say that the fruit of Wragg is larger, the trees hardier and that the cherries ripen a little later than those of English Morello. With the information now at hand it is impossible to say here whether or not Wragg is distinct. A compiled description taken from the text describing this cherry is so unsatisfactory that we offer none and refer the reader to that of English Morello from which it differs but little, if at all.

YELLOW SPANISH

Prunus avium

For centuries Yellow Spanish must have been the best of all the Bigarreaus and it is only in comparatively late years that it has had rivals. Even yet in tree-characters it is hardly equaled, surpassing Windsor, which has a notable tree, in several respects and falling short of it only in hardiness. The trees are large,—perhaps the largest of all the varieties of Prunus avium,—having an upright-spreading top which gives a large bearing surface and forms a canopy of splendid foliage. The trees are vigorous, bear abundantly and regularly and come in bearing young, with the crop well distributed and not in clusters as is the case and the fault of Windsor. Unfortunately, the cherries, though very good in most characters, do not come up to the trees in points of superiority. They are rather smaller than those of Napoleon, the greatest competitor of Yellow Spanish, and are more subject to attacks of brown-rot than several others of the Bigarreaus. As may be seen by comparing the color-plates, however, Yellow Spanish is rather the handsomer of the two cherries, the crimson color being more evenly distributed and the skin not having the mottled appearance of Napoleon. In quality Yellow Spanish is the better of the two, having tenderer flesh and a sweeter and richer flavor. Yellow Spanish is notable in the nursery for its strong, upright growth and its large leaves, the leaves of no other cherry attaining so great a size. In blossoming time the variety may be distinguished by the whiteness of the blossoms as they open and a reddish tint as they drop. It is a mid-season cherry, ripening after Wood and a few days before Napoleon. Despite the great age of the variety it still remains one of the best, furnishing proof, by the way, that varieties of cherries do not degenerate with age. In New York Yellow Spanish cannot be spared from either home or commercial plantings.

Yellow Spanish is so old and so widely disseminated that its origin can only be conjectured. From the name we naturally infer a Spanish nativity and yet it is almost equally well known as Bigarreau, a word of French derivation. Under the last name French pomologists believe that they trace its history to the First Century of the Christian Era as the variety described by Pliny under the name Cerasum Duracinum. The Germans and Austrians certainly knew this variety in the Eighteenth Century and probably much earlier, an inference to be drawn from the references given. Parkinson, the English herbalist, described a cherry in 1629 which he called the Biguarre Cherrie which later came to be known as the Bigarreau or Graffion by English writers and which we now know to be Yellow Spanish. Seven years later Gerarde described a Spanish cherry the description of which is not unlike our Yellow Spanish. Miller and Forsyth, English writers, also at an early date described a Spanish cherry which may be the fruit of this discussion.