DOGWOOD. 



DOLPHIN-FLY. 



alpine pastures, on the herbaceous stem four 

 to six inches high. (Eng. Flora, vol. i. p. 221;) 

 The English names of this shrub, says Phil- 

 lips (>'<//. Flora, vol. i. p. 183), are scarcely less 

 numerous than the tints of its leaves. It is 

 often called female cornel, to distinguish it 

 from Cornus mascula, and hound's berry tree, 

 dogbeny, &c. (because, says Parkinson, the 

 frtiit is not even fit for the dogs), and hence 

 the name of dogwood. 



The Cornelian cherry (Cornus masnda} is a 

 native of Austria, growing from fifteen to 

 twenty feet high. See CORNELIAN CHERRY. 



The American dogwood (Cormts Florida} is 

 a small North American tree, the botanical 

 name of which is derived from the horny 

 toughness of its close-grained and firm wood. 

 It is a very common undergrowth in woods, 

 composed of deciduous trees. Very early in 

 the spring, before the trees by which they are 

 overtopped put out their leaves, the dogwood 

 expands its beautiful white blossoms, and in 

 such profusion as sometimes, at a distance, to 

 resemble a snow-bank. The wood of this 

 small tree is highly prized for a variety of 

 useful purposes, among which is the making 

 of cogs for mill-\vheels. The bark is an ex- 

 cellent tonic, thought by some almost equal to 

 Peruvian bark in its efficacy in curing inter- 

 mittent fevers. A preparation called mrninc 

 has been extracted from it, very much resem- 

 bling quinine. The unfolding of the b!< 

 of the dogwood is the signal to the American 

 farmers to plant Indian corn. 



"Among the eight species of dogwood which 

 have been observed in North America, this 

 alone is entitled by its size to be classed with 

 the forest trees. It is the most interesting, too, 

 for the value of its wood, the properties of its 

 bark, and the beauty of its flowers. In the 

 United States at large, it is known by the name 

 of dogwood, and in Connecticut it is also 

 called box wood. 



"The dogwood is first seen in Massachusetts 

 between the 42 and 43 of latitude, and in 

 proceeding, southward; it is met with uninter- 

 ruptedly throughout the Eastern and Western 

 States, and the two Floridas, to the banks of the 

 Mississippi. Over this vast extent of country 

 it is one of the most common trees, and it 

 abounds particularly in New Jersey, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Maryland, and Virginia, wherever the 

 soil is moist, gravelly, and somewhat uneven ; 

 farther south, in the Carolinas, Georgia, and 

 the Floridas, it is found only on the borders of 

 swamps, and never in the pine barrens, where 

 the soil is too dry and sandy to sustain its 

 vegetation. In the most fertile districts of 

 Kentucky and West Tennessee it does not 

 appear in the forests, except where the soil is 

 gravelly and of a middling quality. 



"The dogwood sometimes reaches thirty or 

 thirty-five feet in height, and nine or ten inches 

 in diameter; but it does not generally exceed 

 the height of eighteen or twenty feet, and the 

 diameter of four or five inches. The trunk is 

 strong, and is covered with a blackish bark, 

 chapped into many small portions, which are 

 often in the shape of squares more or less 

 exact. The branches are proportionally less 

 numerous than on other trees, and are regu- 



| larly disposed nearly in the form of crosses. 



! The young twigs are observed to incline up- 

 wards in a semicircular direction. 



"The leaves are opposite, about three inches 

 in length, "oval, of a dark green above, and 

 whitish beneath: the upper surface is very 



' distinctly sulcated. Towards the close of 

 summer they are often marked with black 

 spots, and at the approach of winter they 

 change to a dull red. 



" In New York and New Jersey the flowers 

 are fully blown about the 10th or 15th of May, 

 while the leaves are only beginning to unfold 

 themselves. The flowers are small, yellowish, 

 and collected in bunches, which are surround- 

 ed with a very large involucre composed of 

 four white floral leaves, sometimes inclining 

 to violet. This fine involucre constitutes all 

 the beauty of the flowers, which are very nu- 

 merous, and which, in their season, robe the 

 tree in white, like a full blown apple tree, and 

 render it one of the fairest ornaments of the 

 American forests. 



"The seeds, of a vivid, glossy red, and of an 

 oval shape, are always united. They remain 

 upon the trees till the first frosts, when, not- 

 withstanding their bitterness, they are devour- 

 ed by the Robin, Turdtis migratorius, which, 

 about this period, arrives from the northern 

 regions. 



"The wood is hard, compact, heavy, and 

 fine-grained, and is susceptible of a brilliant 

 polish. The sap is perfectly white, and the 

 heart is of a chocolate colour. This tree is 

 not large enough for works which require 

 pieces of considerable volume : it is used for 

 the handles of light tools, such as mallets, 

 small vices, &c. In the country, some farmers 

 select it for harrow teeth, for the hames of 

 horses' collars, and also for lining the runners 

 of sledges; but to whatever purpose it is ap- 

 plied, being liable to split, it should never be 

 wrought till it is perfectly seasoned. The 

 shoots, when three or four years old, are found 

 proper for the light hoops of small, portable 

 casks ; but the consumption in this way is in- 

 considerable. In the Middle States, the cogs 

 of mill-wheels are made of dogwood, and its 

 divergent branches are taken for the yokes 

 which are put upon the necks of swine, to 

 prevent their breaking into cultivated enclo- 

 sures. Such are the profitable uses of this 

 tree ; it affords also excellent fuel, but it is too 

 small to be brought into the markets of the 

 cities." (Michaux's forth Jlmer. Syha.) 



DOLPHIN-FLY. The name in England of 

 an insect of the aphis tribe, very destructive to 

 beans. (See BEAXS.) It is sometimes called 

 the collier. The destruction which this insect 

 causes is not wonderful when we reflect on. 

 the astonishing fecundity of all the aphides 

 family. The sexual intercourse of one original 

 pair serves for all the generations which pro- 

 ceed from the female in the succeeding year; 

 and Reaumur informs us, that, in five genera- 



j tions, one aphis may be the progenitor of 



I 5.904,900,000 descendants : in one year there 

 may be twenty generations. At one season 

 they are viviparous, at others oviparous. The 

 dolphin-fly or collier is of a black colour: it 

 begins its depredations at the top of the bean, 



