222 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



May 



takes a beautiful polish ; it is brown 

 or red in color at maturity, with thin, 

 yellow sapwood. It is suitable for 

 cabinetmaking and interior decorating, 

 and for such purposes has been so ex- 

 tensively used that he largest and best 

 trees of the country have now been 

 cut. For general construction work 

 or when exposed to the weather the 

 wood is not good. This lessens the 

 value of the tree for general planting. 



SOIL AND SITE. 



The Black Cherry is capable 01 ex- 

 isting in a variety of dry situations, 

 but it is only in the moist, well-drain- 

 ed, rich soils of mild climates that the 

 maximum development is attained. 

 The tree thrives on bottom lands and 

 does fairly well on sandy or rocky up- 

 lands if the soil is rich and penetrable. 

 In the West its success as a forest tree 

 has been variable, although on the 

 whole encouraging. In the loess soil 

 of western Iowa, on dry ridges and 

 bluffs, and in black drift soils it makes 

 a rapid growth. 



PROPAGATION. 



Birds are the natural agents of seed 



1 * 



dissemination for the cherry, and by 

 them the tree has been broadly distrib- 

 uted. This means of starting repro- 

 duction can hardly be depended upon, 

 however, because the cherry pits are 

 scattered too thinly and many of them 

 are lost through falling in places un- 

 favorable to germination. On limited 

 areas in the South natural reproduc- 

 tion is good on open or partly shaded 

 land, but in the North and West it is 

 often lacking. 



As the Black Cherry is easily trans- 

 planted, it is better to plant the seeds 

 in a nursery and transfer the trees to 

 the final forest site when one or two 

 years old than to attempt to grow 

 young trees by planting seeds where 

 the trees are to stand. 



The fruit, which is borne profusely 

 almost every year by trees in the open 

 and less frequently by those in the 

 forest, ripens in late August or early 

 September and may be collected by 

 hand from low trees or from tall forest 



trees by shaking it down upon canvas. 

 The pulp should be washed off and 

 the surface of the pit dried to prevent 

 moulding. For winter preservation 

 the pits should be stratified in moist 

 sand and placed on the north side of 

 a building where they will breeze and 

 not be thawed out too often or too 

 rapidly by the sun. In the spring they 

 should be planted in drills 8 to 12 

 inches apart for hand cultivation, or 

 2 to 3 feet apart if a horse cultivator 

 is to be used, and covered about 1 inch 

 deep. In the drill the seeds should be 

 placed 2 or 3 inches apart. Planting 

 must be done immediately after re- 

 moving the pits from the sand, as even 

 a partial drying at this stage is fatal. 

 The transfer to the permanent planta- 

 tion may be made in the spring when 

 the trees are 1 year old, or they may 

 be transplanted to nursery rows and 

 allowed to develop for another year 

 before the final setting. 



The Black Cherry, since it endures 

 considerable shade, may be planted 

 rather close, either in pure stands or 

 with associated species. The best spe- 

 cies for a mixture are Boxelder, Red 

 Oak, ash, elm. Silver Maple, Black 

 Walnut, and Hackberry, the choice 

 depending upon the locality. 



ENEMIES. 



The forest tent caterpillar (Clisio- 

 campa americana) often seriously in- 

 jures the Black Cherry by destroying 

 the leaves. A fungus known as "black 

 knot," by causing unsightly swellings 

 on the branches, greatly disfigures the 

 tree. In case of insect attack speci- 

 mens should be sent to the Division of 

 Entomology for identification and sug- 

 gestions as to methods of control. 



The leaves and fruit of Black Cher- 

 ry contain hydrocyanic acid, which is 

 a deadly poison ; cattle have in rare 

 instances been poisoned by eating the 

 leaves, and it is said that children have 

 died from eating the pits or swallow- 

 ing the fruit whole. The fresh leaves 

 are considered harmless, the poison be- 

 ing the result of chemical action in the 

 withering leaves. 



