Ox Heart is very commonly used as a class name for the large, meaty varieties of cherries which are cordate in shape. In America the name is most often given to the light-fleshed cherries, such as Yellow Spanish, Napoleon or White Bigarreau. At one time, however, the name was applied to a distinct variety known throughout England, Germany and America, being first mentioned by Miller, an Englishman, in 1734. Coxe, in 1817, was the first American writer to list the variety but it never became popular in the New World. Ox Heart appeared among the fruits rejected by the American Pomological Society in 1858 and from then on it gradually gave way to better varieties. The synonyms of the true Ox Heart are badly confused not only with other dark-fleshed varieties but with those of the Yellow Spanish type. As some of these varieties are merely listed while others have but a meager description, it is impossible to separate or group them with any degree of certainty. In the 1909 catalog of the American Pomological Society there appears an Ox Heart of American origin and of recent introduction, known in the West as Major Francis. There are also in several nursery catalogs a "white-fleshed Ox Heart." What this variety is we are unable to say. The following is a description of Ox Heart compiled from European fruit books: Tree medium in vigor, round-topped, spherical, productive; branches somewhat curved; internodes of medium length; leaves obovate, obtusely pointed, margin finely serrate; petiole short, rather slender, flexible, tinged red, with two reniform glands; flowers small; petals irregularly elliptical. Fruit matures the last of June or early in July; medium to large, cordate, pointed, sides unevenly compressed; color lively red changing to intense purple or nearly black; stem of medium length and thickness, usually tinged red, inserted in a broad, deep cavity; skin tough; flesh dark red, with abundant colored juice, half-tender but firmer than most Hearts, sweet though slightly bitter before complete maturity; quality good; stone medium in size, broadly cordate, adhering to the flesh along the ventral suture. REINE HORTENSE _Prunus avium X Prunus cerasus_ =1.= _Gen. Farmer_ =11=:191 fig. 1850. =2.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Rpt._ 55. 1856. =3.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 211. 1856. =3.= Dochnahl _Führ. Obstkunde_ =3=:54. 1858. =4.= _Ill. Handb._ 167 fig., 168. 1860. =5.= Thomas _Guide Prat._ 17, 204. 1876. =6.= Leroy _Dict. Pom._ =5=:379-382, fig. 1877. _D'Aremberg._ =7.= _Lond. Hort. Soc. Cat._ 45. 1831. =8.= Kenrick _Am. Orch._ 215. 1835. _Hortense._ =9.= Elliott _Fr. Book_ 196, 197 fig. 1854. =10.= _Am. Pom. Soc. Cat._ 27. 1909.