XXVIII. THE ALMOND FAMILY. 447 



other intoxicating liquors which are flavored by them, their 

 fatal effects ; and this principle, in the leaves of some species of 

 cherry, as in the goat-killing cherry of Nepaul, and the Carolina 

 cherry of this country, and in the leaves of our common black 

 cherry, when wilted, renders them poisonous to some quadru- 

 peds. This principle, however, is diffused in so slight a pro- 

 portion through the pulp of the fruit, that the cherry, the peach 

 and nectarine, the plum and the apricot, are a very delicious, 

 and, in moderate quantities, a perfectly wholesome food. 



The prunes, which we import from France, are the dried fruit 

 of some varieties of the plum, which contain a sufficient quan- 

 tity of sugar to preserve the fruit from decay, and even to yield 

 a considerable quantity of brandy by distillation. The leaves 

 of the sloe and bird cherry of Europe have been used to adul- 

 terate the black teas of China and even to take their place. Oil 

 is expressed from the kernel of the almond, and from that of 

 some of the plums. The bark of plants of this family contains 

 an astringent principle, which renders it capable of being used 

 in tanning, in dyeing yellow, and as a tonic and febrifuge in 

 medicine. All of them yield a gum not unlike gum tragacanth 

 or gum arabic, which is highly nutritious. It is doubtful if it 

 ever flows without injuring the tree; and, if the wound be not 

 healed, the loss is at last fatal. 



Plants of this family, native and introduced, are peculiarly 

 liable to the attacks of insects. Canker-worms of one or of 

 several species, {Phalatna and A?iisopteryx, Harris, 332 — 4), 

 often strip them of their leaves; the tent-caterpillars, (Clisio- 

 cdmpa Americana, ib. 266 — 9), pitch their tents among the 

 branches, and carry on their dangerous depredations; the slug- 

 worms, the offspring of a fly called Selandria cerasi, (ib. 383 — 

 4), reduce the leaves to skeletons and thus destroy them ; the 

 cherry- weevils, (Rhynchafnus cerasi, ib. 68), penetrate their 

 bark, cover their branches with warts, and cause them to 

 decay ; and borers, {Buprestis divaricdta, ib. 43, or the still 

 more pernicious jEgeria exiliosa, p. 233), gnaw galleries in 

 their trunks and devour the inner bark and sap-wood. 



