454 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



and bordered with scarlet and crimson. Later, they change to 

 a pale, ochre yellow. 



The flowers are small, pretty closely set by short stems, on 

 a simple raceme, forming the end of a footstalk, four to six 

 inches long, with 2 to 5 leaves at its base. It is erect or curved 

 upward in flowering, which begins at the bottom ; afterwards 

 bends down with the weight of the fruit. 



The wild cherry tree rarely rises, in Massachusetts, above the 

 height of forty or fifty feet. It is found, according to Dr. Rich- 

 ardson, as far north as the Great Slave Lake in latitude 62°, 

 where it attains the height of only five feet. On the sandy 

 plains of the Saskatchawan, it rises to twenty feet. In Maine, 

 it increases to thirty or more, and is seldom a foot in diameter. 

 In western New York it rises to a great height and large size ; 

 but it reaches its perfection on the Ohio River, where Michaux 

 found it sometimes from twelve to even sixteen feet in cir- 

 cumference, and from eighty to one hundred feet high, with a 

 trunk of uniform size and undivided to the height of twenty- 

 five or thirty feet. 



The wood is of a light red or fresh mahogany color, growing 

 darker and richer with age. The medullary rays, or what are 

 commonly called the silver grain, are very numerous, and more 

 closely arranged than in almost any other kind of wood ; and 

 when cut by a plane, not quite parallel to them, exhibit a beau- 

 tiful appearance. It is very close-grained, compact, takes a 

 good polish, and when perfectly seasoned, is not liable to shrink 

 or warp. It is, therefore, particularly suitable and much em- 

 ployed for tables, chests of drawers, and other cabinet work, 

 and when polished and varnished, is not less beautiful for such 

 articles than inferior kinds of mahogany. It is particularly 

 valuable for window sashes, as it retains a permanently smooth 

 surface and is little affected by the weather. In some places it 

 is used to make the posts of stair-rails and for doors, in which 

 it looks extremely well. Gun-stocks and other small articles 

 are also made of it. The most beautiful portion, commonly 

 used, is that portion of the trunk where the branches begin. 

 This part is often equal to the better kinds of mahogany. It 

 would be worth the experiment, to manufacture that part of the 



