Vladimir is a Morello-like cherry not more promising in New York, at
least in the orchard of this Station, than any other of the many
competitors of English Morello. The cherries are large, very similar in
size and appearance to those of English Morello; the pit is small, the
skin very thin and separating readily from the pulp. The variety is
further characterized by the very dark red flesh and dark colored juice
which is too astringent and sour to eat out of hand but does very well
for culinary purposes. The tree is much like that of English Morello but
is far more dwarfish and not as productive, these being fatal faults for
commercial planting in New York. It falls short of English Morello in
another respect--the fruit ripens very unevenly. Vladimir has the
reputation of being one of the hardiest of all cherries. It is said to
come true from seed and does better on its own roots than on either
Mazzard or Mahaleb. The Russians, according to Budd, succeed best with
it when it is propagated from sprouts and allowed to form a bushy plant
with several stems, the oldest of which are cut from time to time.
There seems to be little in the variety to commend it for either home or
commercial plantings in New York.
Vladimir is a generic name for a group of varieties grown in Russia,
principally in the province of Vladimir east of Moscow. Most of these
cherries are large, black fruits with highly colored juice and good
quality, much valued for market use in their native country. Professor
J. L. Budd imported a number of these Vladimir cherries from Orel in
Central Russia and grew them at the Experiment Station grounds in Iowa,
giving to each a seedling number as a distinguishing characteristic.
One, Orel No. 25, was selected as being superior in many respects to the
others and was finally named Vladimir. This variety, typical of these
Russian cherries, has been considerably propagated and is generally
distributed throughout this country. The American Pomological Society
added Vladimir to its list of recommended fruits in 1909.
[Illustration: VLADIMIR]
Tree dwarfish, round-topped, very hardy, productive; trunk medium
or below in size; branches willowy, drooping, reddish-brown
slightly overspread with ash-gray; branchlets slender, long,
smooth, with a few small, raised lenticels.
Leaves numerous, three inches long, one and three-fourths inches
wide, folded upward, oval, thick; upper surface dull, dark green,
smooth; lower surface light green, with a few scattering hairs;
apex acute, base slightly abrupt; margin finely serrate, with dark
colored glands; petiole one-half inch long, tinged with red, with
a few scattering hairs along the stalk, glandless or with from one
to four small, reniform, greenish-yellow glands at the base of the
blade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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