THE CHEEEY-TEEE. 



AMONG our fruit-trees the Cherry occupies the most 

 conspicuous place, considered with reference either to 

 shade or ornament, surpassing all the others in size and 

 in comeliness of growth. All the species are handsome 

 trees, and some of them are of great stature. .They are na- 

 tives of all countries in the northern temperate zone, but 

 not of any region south of the equator. The three most 

 remarkable species of the family are the common garden 

 Cherry, or Hazard, which is believed to be a native of 

 Asia ; the Great Northern Cherry, or Gean, of Europe ; 

 and the Black Cherry of the United States. 



THE BLACK CHERRY. 



The Black Cherry, which is a tree of the first magnitude 

 in favorable regions, is only a middle-sized tree in the New 

 England States. In the South and West, especially on 

 the banks of the Ohio River, it attains a very great size, 

 rising sometimes to one hundred feet, according to Mi- 

 chaux, with a corresponding diameter. It is sensitive to 

 the extremes both of cold and heat, and to an excess 

 either of dryness or moisture. In Maine it is only a 

 small tree, being checked in its growth by the severe 

 Northern winters. Very far south it suffers from the hot 

 and dry summers, but prospers well in the mountainous 

 parts. It forms immense forests in many districts of 

 North America, in company with the honey locust, the 

 black walnut, the red elm, and the oak. It is sufficiently 



