22 THE NEW METHOD 



We are never tired of studying the sky, because it is 

 always beautiful and always changing. The sky 

 now is of a very pretty blue with soft white clouds in 

 some parts of it. They do not seem very far up in 

 the sky." Sarah. 



The Black Cherry Tree. 



"There are forty kinds of cherry trees in the 

 world, and ten of them grow in the United States. 

 The wild black cherry is one of our best timber trees. 

 The wood is light and pretty. It has a great deal of 

 silver grain, and the rays are long, fine, and close to- 

 gether. The color of the sap-wood is white. The 

 heart-wood is light red, with darker stripes running 

 through it. The wood is used for bureaus, tables, 

 school desks, window sashes, posts for stair rails, and 

 many other things. The bark is gray outside, but 

 the inner bark is light yellow next to the wood, and 

 darker near the outer bark. The leaf is ovate and 

 comes to a point at the apex. It is finely net-veined, 

 and the margin is very finely serrate. 



' ' This tree grows in all parts of North America be- 

 tween the Gulf of Mexico and Slave Lake, Hudson 

 Bay and Hudson Strait. But it grows best half way 

 between Hudson Bay and Gulf of Mexico. There, 

 all through the basins of the Missouri, Mississippi, 

 and Ohio rivers, it grows a hundred feet high and 

 five feet in diameter." George. 



