118 THE CHERRY. 



freely and abundantly in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, 

 Greece, Eussia, the Mediterranean islands, Great Britain 

 and Ireland, attaining a larger size in the north than in the 

 south. Nevertheless, its general diffusion and apparent 

 wildness of growth is not conclusive evidence in favour of 

 its being considered a native of these countries. It has 

 been remarked by M. le Conte, that in America, when 

 Beech woods are cut down, they are speedily replaced by 

 Cherry-trees. He accounts for this on the supposition 

 that birds, who eat the fruit with avidity, may have 

 resorted to the woods for shelter, and there dropped the 

 stones, which either lay dormant, or germinated and re- 

 mained in a diminutive state until the Beeches were cut 

 down, when they advanced rapidly, and finally became the 

 principal occupants of the soil. Now, if the Cherry-tree 

 has become thus thoroughly naturalized in America, into 

 which there can be no doubt that it was introduced, there 

 is very fair ground for the opinion that its extensive 

 diffusion through Europe may be attributed to the same 

 cause, and that the assertion of the older authors, that it 

 is of Asiatic origin, is correct. 



The second species, which, though often found in our 

 woods and hedges, is not really wild in any part of Europe, 

 is the Eed-fruited Cherry. It is called by botanists 

 Prunus Cerasus, or by those who assign the Plum and the 

 Cherry to distinct genera, Cerasus vulgdris. To this 

 species many of the best sorts of our garden Cherries are 

 referred, including the Flemish and Kentish Cherries, 

 Maydukes (from Medoc, the province in France where the 

 variety originated), and many others. It is a much smaller 

 tree than the last, from which it may be distinguished by 

 its unpointed leaves, which do not droop and are never 

 downy beneath, and by its red, acid fruit. 



In England, Cherries are to be considered rather as a 

 luxury than as a staple article of food ; but on the Con- 

 tinent, particularly in France, they are highly prized as 

 supplying food to the poor ; and a law was passed in that 



