The Plums and the Cherries 



' cherries are small and sour, to be sure, but the birds pick every 

 one. By them, the pits are scattered far and wide, and seedlings 

 spring up each year, in fence corners, on rocky hillsides, and in the 

 paths of forest fires. Wherever such a tree appears we may be 

 sure it was planted by birds. 



This v/ild cherry, it is acknowledged by foresters, renders a 

 distinct service to the country by furnishing shade under which 

 valuable hardwoods and other kinds of timber trees can make a 

 strong start. By the time the nurse trees are no longer needed 

 they are gone, for the bird cherry is a fast-growing, short-lived tree. 



Wild Black Cherry, Rum Cherry (Pruniis seroiina, Ehrh.) 

 A large, spreading tree with oblong head and sturdy, rough 

 trunk; branches drooping. Bark dark brown (grey in the South), 

 checked into rough plates, shedding horizontally in curling 

 sheets on branches; bitter taste. Wood reddish brown, hard, 

 light, strong, easily worked, close, lustrous grain. Buds brown, 

 slender, scaly. Leaves narrowly oblong, tapering, 2 to 5 inches 

 long, alternate, finely serrate; dark green, shining above, paler 

 beneath; bitter; yellow in fall; petioles slender, short. Flowers, 

 May, small, white, in racemes 2 to 4 inches long. Fruits, Sep- 

 tember, flattened, pea sized, purple, bitter and sweetish aromatic; 

 skin thick. Preferred habitat, moist, alluvial soil. Distribution, 

 Ontario to Dakota; south to Florida and Texas. Uses: A most 

 valuable lumber tree; handsome, quick-growing shade and orna- 

 mental tree; the fruit, roots and bark yield a tonic drug. 



The black cherry is a substantial citizen in any community 

 of trees. In an astonishingly short time the sapling becomes a 

 tree, low trunked, great of girth, and crowned with a dome of 

 graceful, pendulous branches. 



The satiny brown bark reminds us of the birches. It has 

 the same slit-like horizontal "breathing holes," and the birches' 

 way of shedding its bark. But a taste, or even a sniff of a twig, 

 or a bit of bark, will decide the point. The cherry birch, which 

 is the species most likely to be confused with the black cherry, 

 has a pleasantly aromatic flavour. The bark of the cherry is 

 bitter as gall. 



In old-fashioned home remedies, in patent medicines, and in 

 the prescriptions of regular physicians cherry extracts and decoc- 

 tions are often met. No spring tonic is seriously expected to rid 

 us of "that tired feeling" unless the tang of wild cherry is there. 



328 







