TREES OF AMERICA. 113 



" Oh yes, they are white and rose coloured, 

 and when the trees are in blossom you can 

 smell them a long way." 



" And did you ever taste the leaves when 

 they were young?" 



" No, sir." 



" If you had, you would have found them 

 bitter, but not unpleasant ; some people make 

 tea of them, when they cannot get better. 

 The apples, you know, make the best cider." 



" Yes, and capital sweetmeats too ; but they 

 take a great deal of sugar, they are so very 



sour." 



" There is another wild fruit tree, that I 

 suspect you have never seen, for it grows 

 principally among the Alleghany Mountains, 

 although it is sometimes found in swamps near 

 Philadelphia and New- York. Its common 

 name is the June berry ; its height is from 

 twenty to thirty feet ; the leaves are small, 

 and when they are young they are covered 

 with a thick, silvery down, that gives them a 

 beautiful shining appearance ; but this disap- 

 pears as they grow older. The flowers are 

 small and white, and the fruit is reddish pur- 

 ple, very sweet, and not larger than a pea: it 

 looks somewhat like a very small cherry, but 



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