CHERRY, WILD. 



It soon after spread into most parts of Europe, 

 and is supposed to have been carried* to Bri- 

 tain about a century after it came to Rome. 

 The cherry is pretty generally cultivated 

 throughout the kingdom, as an agreeable 

 summer fruit. The varieties are very nume- 

 rous The Horticultural Society's Catalogue 

 embraces 246 ; but the following list is recom- 

 mended by Mawe, as containing the best varie- 

 ties for general cultivation, the whole being 

 arranged in the order in which they ripen in 

 England: June: Early May, May Duke, 

 Knight's Early Black, and Late Duke. July : 

 Archduke, Black Tartarian, White Tartarian, 

 Black Eagle, Kentish, Bigarreau, Holmon's 

 Duke, Elton, Herefordshire Heart, Bleeding 

 Heart, Carnation, and Waterloo. August : Har- 

 rison's Heart, Black Heart, Waterloo, Cou- 

 ronne, Lukeward, Black Geen, Small Black, 

 Small Red Wild, White Swiss, Lundie Geen, 

 Transparent Geen, Cluster, Yellow Spanish. 

 September: Florence, Amber Heart, Flemish 

 Heart, Red Heart, White Heart. October: 

 Morello or Milan. For small gardens, either 

 as wall trees, espaliers, or standards, the fol- 

 lowing varieties are recommended : The May 

 Duke, Morello, Archduke, Black Heart, White 

 Heart, Bigarreau, Harrison's Heart, and Ken- 

 tish Cherries. Miller considers the common 

 Red or Kentish, the Duke, and the Lukeward 

 as the best trees for an orchard ; they are plen- 

 tiful bearers. This tree prefers a light dry 

 sandy loam, with a free exposure. The wood 

 of the cherry tree is close, takes a fine polish, 

 and is not liable to split. It is used in the 

 manufacture of chairs, musical instruments 

 &c., and stained to imitate mahogany. The 

 principal supplies of cherries for the London 

 market are brought from the cherry orchards 

 in Kent and Herts. The wild cherry tree is 

 found frequently in the woods and hedges of 

 England, and has round branches with a po- 

 lished ash-coloured bark. The. leaves, in all 

 the varieties are simply folded fiat while 

 young, by which cherries differ from the Bui- 

 lace tribe. (Phil Hist. Fruits, p. 76 ; Willich's 

 Domestic Encyclopedia; M'Culloch's Commercial 

 Dictionary; Baxter's Library of Agriculture; 

 Smith's Eng. Flora, vol. ii. p. 354; American 

 Orchardist" s Companion; Kenrick's New American 

 Orchardist, &c.) 



CHERRY, WILD. Several kinds of wild 

 cherry are found in the United States, and Mi- 

 chaux describes the following species. 



Red Cherry Tree (Cerasus borealis). Red 

 cherry. Small cherry ; common only in the 

 Northern States, (including the highlands in the 

 northern parts of Pennsylvania), in Canada, 

 New Brunswick, Nova Scotia. The tree at- 

 tains a height of twenty-five or thirty feet, with 

 a diameter of five or six inches. Flowers are 

 collected in small white bunches, and the fruit, 

 which is of a bright red colour, considerable 

 size, and intensely acid taste, ripens in the 

 month of July. The wood is fine grained and 

 of a redish hue, but its inferior size limits its 

 use in the mechanical arts. This species of 

 tffcprry tree offers the same remarkable pecu- 

 liarity with the^canoe birch of reproducing 

 itself, as it were, spontaneously in cleared 

 grounds, and in such forests as have been 

 320 



CHERRY-LAUREL. 



burnt, which is observable in spots where fire 

 has been kindled by travellers. Of all the na- 

 tive species of North America, Michaux thinks 

 the red cherry tree bears the greatest analogy 

 to the cultivated cherry tree of Europe, and 

 hence the most proper for receiving grafts, 

 though it has been found difficult to make the 

 grafts succeed. 



Wild Cherry (Cerasus Virginiand). This is 

 one of the largest productions of the American 

 forests. Its wood is of an excellent quality 

 and elegant appearance, and is usefully em- 

 ployed in the arts. In Maine, where the winter 

 is long and intense, it hardly exceeds thirty 

 or forty feet in height, and eight to twelve 

 inches in diameter; in the southern and mari- 

 time parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, 

 where the soil is arid and sandy, it is rarely 

 seen, and even when found on the banks of 

 rivers its growth is stinted. A milder climate 

 and more fertile soil favour its growth, and it 

 abounds in Virginia, Pennsylvania, and all the 

 Atlantic States, and also in Western, New 

 York, and Illinois, uniting with the overcup 

 white oak, black walnut, honey locust, red elm, 

 and coffee tree of the forests covering the fertile 

 regions of the West. On the banks of the Ohio 

 Michaux measured trees twelve to sixteen feet 

 in circumference, and from eighty to one hun- 

 dred feet in height, with undivided trunks of 

 uniform size to the height of twenty-five or 

 thirty feet. 



The flowers of the wild cherry are white and 

 collected in spikes. The fruit is about the size 

 of a pea and nearly black, at maturity, soon 

 after which, notwithstanding its abundance 

 and bitterness, it is devoured by birds. It is 

 employed either alone or mixed with cultivated 

 cherries, generally the morillos or mazzards 

 in making a domestic cordial called cherry 

 bounce, which consists of an infusion of the 

 cherries in rum or brandy with a certain quan- 

 tity of sugar. It is a faint imitation of the 

 Kirschenvasser of the Germans, and Marasquin 

 of the Venetians, both of which liqueurs or cor- 

 dials are prepared by distillation, from wild 

 cherries found in the north and south of Europe. 



The wood of this tree is highly valuable, 

 being compact, fine-grained and brilliant, and 

 not liable to warp when perfectly seasoned. 

 When chosen near the ramification of the 

 trunk it rivals mahogany in the beauty of its 

 curls. The bark of the wild cherry tree in- 

 fused in cold water and drank to the extent of 

 half a pint or a pint a day is a popular and 

 useful tonic. 



Wild Orange Tree (Cerasus Carohniana). This 

 beautiful species of cherry tree is found in the 

 Bahama Islands, to which, with the islands on 

 the coast of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Flo- 

 rida it appears to be nearly confined. The 

 fruit is small, oval, and nearly black, the 

 greenish pulp which covers the soft stone not 

 being eatable. The wild orange, as it is there 

 called, is one of the most beautiful productions 

 of the Southern States on the sea-board, where 

 it is a favourite ornamental and shade tree. 

 The flowers are more frequented by bees than 

 those of any other southern tree. 



CHERRY TREE BORER. See BOBERS. 



CHERRY-LAUREL (Cerasus lauro-cerasus"). 



