402 DECIDUOUS TREES. 



feet high. In swampy ground we have seen trees from sixty to 

 seventy feet high, and covered to the base with wiry branches. 

 The trunk rarely exceeds eighteen inches in diameter. 



In warm rich and moist soils the tupelo 

 changes its character and becomes a wide- 

 spreading small tree, still retaining its 

 tendency to a conical form in some de- 

 gree. Fig. 126 is a characteristic form 

 of the tupelo, being the portrait of a tree 

 about thirty years old, grown on a com- 

 mon dry upland, but does not do justice 

 to the clearness of its shadows. On rich 

 ground it spreads more, and takes the 

 form of a small cedar of Lebanon. 



The leaves of the tupelo are about 



three inches long, pointed-oval, thick, uncommonly glossy, and of 

 a dark green. They appear late in the spring, and fall early ; but 

 before they fall their color is unsurpassed in purity and brilliancy by 

 that of any other tree, varying from a fiery scarlet to a deep crim- 

 son. It is an essential tree in any group designed to exhibit the 

 brilliancy of autumn foliage, and a pleasing lawn tree at all times 

 when in leaf. When out of leaf its dark bark and angular twiggi- 

 ness is not pleasing. The tree is easily transplanted, and will 

 grow in any moist soil, but improves like most other trees in 

 proportion as the soil is deep and rich. 



The other varieties of the tupelo are the N. grandidenta, or 

 tooth-leaved, a large tree of the southern States ; the N. candicans, 

 or Ogeechee lime tree, a southern tree also, of smaller size ; and the 

 N. sylvatica, or black gum none of them notable for their beauty. 



THE CHERRY TREE. Cerasus. 



The edible fruit-trees of the cherry family are divided into two 

 classes, viz : the C. sylvestris, or wild black-fruited, and C. vulgaris- 

 the latter embracing all the Kentish, morello, and sour red cher- 

 ries ; and it is supposed that all the finer varieties of cherries have 



