Fruit matures in mid-season or later; nearly one inch in diameter, roundish-ovate; cavity abrupt; suture very shallow to a mere line; apex flattened, depressed; color very dark red; dots numerous, unusually small, obscure; stem one and one-fourth inches to one and one-half inches long, adhering well to the fruit; flesh light red, with much wine-colored juice, fine-grained, tender and melting, sour at first, becoming pleasantly tart at full maturity; good in quality; stone separates readily from the flesh, small, roundish-ovate, plump; ventral suture grooved; dorsal suture with a small ridge. [82] Elliott's _American Fruit Growers Guide_, published in 1858 and dedicated to Professor Jared P. Kirtland, was one of the notable pomological books of its day. Cherry growers, in particular, owe Elliott a debt of gratitude for the publicity that he gave to Kirtland's cherries, having described in his book 20 of the sorts originated by Professor Kirtland. Beside his fruit book he published _Popular Deciduous and Evergreen Trees_ (1868), _Handbook for Fruit-growers_ (1876) and _Handbook of Practical Landscape Gardening_ (1877). He also served pomologists well for many years, at various times, from 1850 to 1873, as the secretary of the American Pomological Society. Franklin Reuben Elliott was born in Guilford, Connecticut, April 27, 1817. We know, from complimentary speeches, accepted by Elliott, that he was a descendant of John Eliot, "The Apostle of the Indians." As a young man he engaged with a brother in New York as an importer of dry goods, the firm being rated at half a million dollars. Financial ruin came through a disastrous fire and, in 1836, Elliott went to Newburgh and was employed by A. J. Downing from whom he imbibed his knowledge and much of his love for pomology and horticulture. A roving disposition and dissipated habits led him to leave Downing for a position with a relative near Cincinnati who was a market-gardener. A ready pen seems from this time on to have been his chief means of livelihood for we find him successively in Cleveland, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri, in newspaper work; after a few years in each place he wandered to Washington where he was employed in the Agricultural Department of the Patent Office illustrating American fruits. From his hand in the Patent Office reports and from his fruit book, came some of the most accurate and beautiful representations of the fruits of this continent. It is probable that while in Washington he began work on his _Fruit Growers Guide_, the time for which, he tells us in his preface, took ten years. Social infirmities seem to have cost him his position in Washington and his last employment was with the _Cleveland Herald_, after which comes the record of his death and burial in a pauper's grave January 10, 1878.