Parkinson, nearly three hundred years ago, thought the Arch Duke "one of the fairest and best of cherries." It is now, however, quite surpassed by several others of the Dukes. The concensus of opinion of those who have known the true fruit of this name is that either May Duke or Late Duke is better. We give it prominence only because of its worthy past and that it may be better distinguished from May Duke with which it is often confused. As compared with the last-named variety it is two weeks later; the tree is more vigorous but not as productive; and the branches are larger, more divergent and more pendulous. The cherries are not as well flavored but are larger and have a shorter stalk. This old English variety was first mentioned by Parkinson in _Paradisus Terrestris_, 1629. For many years previous to the middle of the last century the true Arch Duke cherry was very scarce and was often confused with other varieties, some writers asserting that it was the May Duke; others, the Late Duke. In 1847, however, the true Arch Duke cherry was discovered in the nurseries of Thomas Rivers, Sawbridgeworth, England, having been grown there, according to Mr. Rivers, by his ancestors for nearly a century. It was then found that the fruit was quite unlike that of either May Duke or Late Duke, though the habit of the tree was similar. It is not known when Arch Duke was introduced into America but the American Pomological Society placed it upon its fruit list in 1871. [Illustration: ARCH DUKE] Tree medium in size, vigorous, somewhat upright, hardy, productive; trunk stocky, smooth; branches slender, long, smooth, reddish-brown, marked with considerable scarf-skin, with numerous, rather large lenticels; branchlets of medium length, curved, with short internodes, brown mottled with ash-gray, smooth, glabrous, with few small, slightly raised, inconspicuous lenticels. Leaves numerous, about two inches wide, three inches long, folded upward, short-oval to obovate, of medium thickness; upper surface dark green; lower surface light green, very slightly pubescent; apex acutely pointed; margin finely and doubly serrate, glandular; petiole one inch long, tinged with dull red, slender, with one or two, rarely three small, globose, brownish glands at the base of the blade.