95 



timber of considerable magnitude and excellent quality; as 

 one well adapted to plant as a nurse or intermediate occupant in 

 mixed plantations, and where the oak is intended to remain as 

 the ultimate crop ; and also as an underwood applicable to various 

 minor purposes; we have no hesitation in recommending it 

 strongly to the attention of the planter, feeling assured he will 

 find it much better calculated to repay him for its occupancy in 

 all its stages than several other trees which, unfortunately, are 

 now introduced in mixed plantations, such as the beech, wych 

 elm, or even the ash, except where the latter is intended to form 

 the principal and ultimate crop of timber. In a soil of tolerable 

 quality, provided it be not too wet, the Gean frequently attains 

 a height of from sixty to seventy feet in the course of fifty 

 or sixty years, with a trunk of proportionate size, and large 

 enough for all general purposes. In this state its wood is of 

 great value, being of a strong, firm texture, red colour, close 

 grained, easily worked, and susceptible of a fine polish. These 

 qualities render it a desirable material to the cabinet maker, 

 and the furniture made of it is little, if at all, inferior, both in 

 respect of beauty and durability, to that of the plainer mahogany. 

 In this country, where the wood just mentioned has in a great 

 measure superseded all other kinds in our articles of furniture, 

 and where the cherry tree has never been cultivated to any 

 extent as a timber tree, it" is rare to meet with specimens of 

 furniture made of its wood ; but in France and other parts of 

 the Continent, where it abounds, it is extensively used for this 

 and various other purposes, and is eagerly purchased by the 

 cabinet-maker, the turner, and the musical instrument maker. 

 Its value however is not restricted to the uses made of it by 

 those artisans; it is also applicable to out-of-door uses, and 

 is only inferior to the best oak, or its rival the larch. This 

 durability or power of resisting decay under such circumstances 

 renders it valuable even at a young age, or as soon as it is large 

 enough to make posts, railings, &c."* 



Considering how easily the cherry tree may be grown, and its 

 * Selby's History of British Forest Trees, p. 60. 



