Fruit matures among the latest; three-fourths of an inch in diameter, roundish-cordate, slightly compressed; cavity very shallow, flaring; suture obscure; apex variable in shape usually somewhat pointed; color light to dark red frequently showing an amber background on the shaded side; dots numerous, small, russet, inconspicuous; stem one and three-fourths inches long, adherent to the fruit; skin tough, separating from the pulp; flesh pale yellow, with colorless juice, somewhat stringy, tender, with soft flesh, mild and pleasant, sweet when fully ripe; good to very good in quality; stone large, free, ovate, flattened, with smooth surfaces; somewhat ridged along the ventral suture. DYEHOUSE _Prunus cerasus_ =1.= _Horticulturist_ =25=:176, 177. 1870. =2.= Downing _Fr. Trees Am._ 3rd App. 161. 1881. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 17. 1897. Dyehouse is conspicuous among cherries for its earliness and for the beauty of its fruit. Early Richmond is the standard early cherry yet Dyehouse is a week earlier, just as attractive in appearance and equally well flavored. It is near of kin to Early Richmond but the two may be distinguished by the difference in time of ripening and by its brighter, clearer color, greater opaqueness, more highly colored juice and slightly smaller size. Possibly this cherry would supersede the better-known Early Richmond were it not for the defect in size and for the further faults of being less productive and more capricious to environment, as it fails to thrive in localities where the older sort is quite at home. It is a worthy rival of Early Richmond, however, and ought to be grown both for home and commercial purposes far more than it is. 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. [Illustration: 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.