The Plums and the Cherries 



Europe before it came to us. Now France ranks second to 

 California. Prunes are dried plums. Only certain sweet and 

 fleshy species can be profitably dried. 



Peaches, almonds, nectarines and apricots, all stone fruits, 

 and Old World relatives of plums, have been introduced into 

 cultivation here. The almond, with its dry, woody flesh, is 

 commercially the most valuable species in the genus. Bitter 

 almonds yield almond oil and hydrocyanic acid. The pit of the 

 sweet almond is one of the most important nuts. 



THE CHERRIES 



The \A^ild Red Cherry, Bird, or Pin Cherry {Primus Penn- 

 sylvanica, Linn.) A slender, narrow or round-headed tree, 20 to 

 40 feet high, with regular, horizontal branches. Bark smooth, 

 shining, reddish brown, with conspicuous rusty lenticels on 

 branches; on trunk broken into thin, curling, horizontal plates. 

 Twigs red. Wood pale, close grained, soft. Buds small, brown, 

 sharp, often clustered. Leaves slender, pointed, finely saw- 

 toothed, with wavy edges and shining, smooth surfaces. Flowers 

 white, few in lateral clusters on long stems. Fruit globular, 

 clear red, size of a pea, sour. Preferred habitat, rocky woods. 

 Distrihdion, Newfoundland to Georgia; west to Rocky Mountains. 

 Uses: Valuable nurse trees to hardwoods in the natural reforest- 

 ing of burned areas. Fruit made into cough medicine. 



It is hard to find what a hard-headed, practical person would 

 call a sufficient excuse for this tree's existence. It has no timber 

 value, and the horticulturist has little interest in it as a fruit tree. 

 But 1 consider that it has many uses. It is beautiful, with 

 satiny bark and leaves that catch and reflect the light, providing 

 itself with a sort of nimbus of glory, winter or summer. The 

 wavy leaf margins, fluttering in every breeze, seem to shake the 

 light off as they do the drops of rain. 



It is no small boon to a bleak ravine and to the people who 

 live near it that this tree should spring up and clothe both sides 

 with verdure. With the leaves come clustered, nectar-laden 

 flowers, whitening the tree, and calling the bees. Then comes 

 the harvest, and who can see without real emotion a bird cherry, 

 gemmed on all its twigs with these clear, ruby fruits, and the 

 birds holding high carnival among the shining leaves? The 



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