THE WILD CHERRY. 269 



of procuring seed has alone delayed its general cultivation in 

 the Northern States. The red pine, under the most favora- 

 ble conditions, does not produce seed every year, and at no 

 time is the crop abundant, or easy to collect. In those 

 localities in Maine and New Hampshire where formerly this 

 tree was not rare, few young plants are springing up ; and 

 there is serious danger that one of the most useful and beau- 

 tiful of our native trees will, before many years, entirely dis- 

 appear from the Eastern States. For this reason, this brief 

 notice of the red pine is introduced here, in the hope of 

 inducing systematic efforts in New England and the North- 

 western States to procure a supply of its seeds, and thus 

 place within reach of Northern arboriculturists a tree of 

 undoubted value and great promise. 



The Wild Black Cherry {Prunus serotina, Ehrhert). 



My attention has been called to the capabilities of this 

 tree for economic planting by finding it growing at various 

 points on the New-England coast, in the most exposed situa- 

 tions, on the poorest soil, and often within the direct influ- 

 ence of the salt spray. A tree that grows spontaneously 

 and with considerable vigor in such situations can be culti- 

 vated successfully in almost any portion of the United 

 States, within its natural range, whatever the soil or the 

 exposure. 



Naturally the wild cherry extends over a wide territory : 

 it is found from the Great Slave Lake in the north ? (Rich 

 ardson) to Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. 

 Through all the Northern and Middle States it is a common 

 forest-tree ; but, in the rich lands watered by the Ohio and 

 its tributaries, the wild cherry attains its largest size, and 

 develops its best qualities ; and it is still not uncommon to 

 find in the less thickly settled portions of the West speci- 

 mens eighty to one hundred feet high, and from three to 

 four feet in diameter. A slow-growing tree on the poor soils 

 of the seaboard, the wild cherry increases with great rapidity 

 in the rich deep lands which it prefers. An examination of 

 many specimens cut from trees grown in Northern Illinois, 

 and in other portions of the West, shows an average annual 

 increase of wood of over half an inch during the first twenty 

 years : beyond that age, the growth is naturally less rapid ; 



