155 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Timber, Bark 



Next to black walnut, this was considered in the United States as the finest 

 native hardwood in general use, but has now become so scarce, that it is hardly 

 procurable for export and has been generally superseded as a furniture wood by 

 imported mahogany. It is pale red, and when figured is extremely handsome, but such 

 specimens are rare. A large board of it, which was given me from the State Exhibit 

 of St. Louis at the Exhibition in 1904, was cut from a tree which grew in Cape 

 Girardeau, County Missouri, and produced 2000 ft. of good lumber, of which more 

 than a quarter was 2 ft. wide and over. From this a handsome table top has been 

 made, the legs of which were cut from a tree of the same species grown at Arley 

 Castle, of which a plank was kindly given me by Mr. R. Woodward. 



Defebaugh ' quotes the reminiscences of E. N. Mead of Buffalo, an early lumber- 

 man in M'Kean County, Pennsylvania, as to the abundance and size of the cherry 

 which existed there sixty years or more ago, very little of which is now left, as follows : 

 " The operation with which I was connected, was a small one, only about 300 acres, 

 but it was considered the best cherry grove in the county. We turned out a little 

 over 3 million ft., or an average of 10,000 ft. per acre. We cut nothing under 12 

 in. at top, and not so small as 12 in. unless very smooth and straight. It would, 

 I suppose, be impossible to find any stock to-day which would approach this in 

 quality. It was pronounced the finest ever sent to the Albany market. We cut 

 it all with a circular saw. With a modern bandsaw we could have produced lots 

 of stock 36 inches wide. I will relate one circumstance that occurred. Two of 

 my log-cutters sawed down most of their trees. In this case they cut entirely 

 through the tree, driving wedges behind the saw, and the tree stood on the stump 

 24 hours, until a breeze toppled it over. It was over 3 ft. in diameter at the butt, 

 made four 16 ft. logs, and stood straight as a gun barrel." 



The bark 2 of P. serotina has long been used medicinally, and is recognised both 

 by the United States and British Pharmacopeias. 



The fruit is small and black, like that of the Portugal laurel, and was 

 used in America to flavour brandy, the flavour being superior to that of the 

 common cherry. (H. J. E.) 



1 Lumber Industry of America, ii. 618 (Chicago, 1907). 



* Cf. Power and Moore, in Trans. Chem. Soc. xcv. 243-261 (1909), who have analysed the bark, which yields prussic 

 acid and many other constituents. The same authorities, in Trans. Chem. Soc. xcvii. 1009 (1910), give an account of the 

 chemical properties of the leaves. The barks of other species of Prunus are frequently used as adulterants. Cf. E. M. 

 Holmes, in Pharm.Joum. 1909, p. 192. 



