708 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. FART III. 



25ft. or 30ft.; averaging a rate of growth from 1 ft. to 18 in. annually for the 

 first 10 years. 



Geography, History, $c. It is found wild in the middle and south of 

 France, the south of Germany, Austria, Piedmont, and in Crim Tartary ; and 

 it was found by Pallas in abundance on Mount Caucasus, where it differed 

 from the European variety in the leaves and flowers coming out together, 

 and in the leaves being more cordate and acuminate. The tree is very general 

 in France, particularly in the mountainous districts. It is very common in 

 the neighbourhood of Ste. Lucie, whence its name of bois de Ste. Lucie. 

 Trees of it are sometimes found, in that neighbourhood, with trunks 4 ft. in 

 circumference. The tree is very generally cultivated in England, as an orna- 

 mental plant. It was introduced in 1714, but was known long before, from 

 the circumstance, as Gerard informs us, of " the cunning French perfumers 

 making bracelets, chains, and such like trifling toys, of the fruit, which they 

 send into England, smeared over with some old sweet compound or other, 

 and here sell unto our curious old ladies and gentlewomen, for rare and strange 

 pome-ambers [scented balls], for great sums of money." (Johnson's Gerard.) 



Properties and Uses. The wood of the mahaleb is hard, brown, veined, 

 and susceptible of a high polish. Its smell is less powerful, and more agree- 

 able, when it is dry, than when the sap is in it. In a dry state it weighs 59 Ib. 

 4 oz. per cubic foot. In France, it is much sought after by cabinetmakers, 

 on account of its fragrance, hardness, and the fine polish which it receives ; 

 and it is sold by them green, in thin veneers, because in that state it does not 

 crack, or, at least, the slits, or chinks, are less perceptible. In the Vosges, in 

 the neighbourhood of the Abbey of Ste. Lucie, a great deal of this wood is 

 sold to turners, and for the manufacture of tobacco-pipes and snuff-boxes. 

 In Lorraine, the wood of the mahaleb is often confounded with that of the 

 C. Padus ; and the latter, also a handsome wood, is often sold for the former. 

 The leaves are powerfully fragrant, more particularly when dried : they are 

 greedily eaten by cattle and sheep, and they are used for giving flavour to game. 

 The kernel of the nut is employed by perfumers to scent soap. The "wood 

 is highly prized as fuel, on account of the fragrance which it sends forth when 

 burning ; on which account it was planted, in many parts of France, by the 

 ancient nobility, as undergrowth. It was also, for the same reason, planted 

 as hedges. One of the principal uses in which the plant is at present em- 

 ployed in France is, as a stock on which to graft the different kinds of fruit- 

 bearing cherries ; for which it has the advantages of growing on a very poor 

 soil; of coming into sap 15 days later than the common wild cherry, by 

 which means the grafting season is prolonged ; and, lastly, of dwarfing the 

 plants grafted on it. In British gardens, it is partly used for this purpose, 

 but principally as an ornamental shrub or low tree. As in the case of other 

 dwarf species of a genus which will unite to a tall robust-growing species, 

 the mahaleb, when grafted on the common wild cherry (C. sylvestris), grows 

 to a larger tree than when on its own roots. 



Soil, Situation, <fyc. The mahaleb will grow in any poor soil that is dry, 

 even in the most arid sands and naked chalks ; and, as it forms a low bushy 

 tree which is capable of resisting the wind, it may be planted in an exposed 

 situation. When young plants are to be raised from seed, the fruit is sown 

 as soon as ripe, or preserved among sand till the following spring, in the same 

 manner as that of the cherry. (See p. 700.) Seedling plants generally grow 

 1 ft. in length the first year, and from I ft. to 18 in. the second year. The 

 tree may also be propagated by layers, by slips from the stool, taken off with 

 a few roots attached, and by suckers, or by cuttings from the roots. 



Statistics. There are trees of Cerasus MahAleb at Syon, and some other places in the neighbour, 

 hood of London, upwards of 20ft. high. In Ireland, at Kilkenny, in Woodstock Park, there is one 

 22ft. high, with a trunk 1ft. 4 in. in diameter. In France, at Paris, in the Jardin des Plantes, a 

 tree, 40 years planted, is 40ft. high, the diameter of the trunk 17 in., and of the head 42 ft. ; at 

 Avranches, in the Botanic Garden, 30 years planted, it is 25 ft. high. In the London nurseries,fcd- 

 iings, from 1ft. to L 2 ft. high, are 20j. per hundred ; and large plants, from In to Is. (>d. each. At 

 BoTtwyller they are 50 cent* each. 



