WILD PLUM. 247 



Mexico and western Florida. In Minnesota, throughout the 

 state in thickets along- banks of streams. 



Propagation. Grown from the seeds which should not be 

 allowed to become hard and dry but should be stratified if 

 they are expected to grow the following spring. If planted in 

 the autumn as soon as separated from the pulp about two- 

 thirds of the seeds will grow the following spring and the re- 

 mainder the second year. It may also be grown from 

 sprouts and roots cuttings. 



Properties of wood. Heavy, hard, close grained and strong. 

 It is dark brown in color with a thin light colored sapwood 

 and takes a good polish. Specific gravity 0.7313; weight of a 

 cubic foot 46.95 pounds. 



Uses. The Wild Plum is pretty in flower and in fruit and 

 is a good hardy ornamental tree as well as a good fruit tree. 

 The fruit of the wild kinds is readily sold and is much used 

 for culinary purposes and many of the cultivated kinds 

 afford excellent table fruits. This is one of the best under- 

 shrubs that can be put in our prairie groves, where it affords 

 protection to the soil from evaporation and at the same time 

 yields desirable though of course inferior fruit under such 

 conditions. 



Prunus pennsylvanica. Wild Bed Cherry. Bird 

 Cherry. Pigeon Cherry. Pin Cherry. 



Leaves oblong-lanceolate, long pointed, finely and 

 sharply serrate with incurved teeth often tipped with minute 

 glands, thin, shining, green and smooth on both sides. Fruit 

 ripens in July or August, a very small, right red drupe with 

 thin sour flesh and smooth oblong stone that is ridged on the 

 ventral margin. A small handsome tree that seldom reaches 

 a height of 40 feet and is often a mere shrub. It has smooth 

 reddish brown bark which peels off in transverse strips 

 around the tree. 



Distribution. Found in moist, rather rich soil from New- 

 foundland west to the eastern slopes of the Coast Range and 

 south to northern Illinois and Pennsylvania; also in North 

 Carolina, Tennessee and Colorado. In Minnesota common 

 throughout all but the southwestern part of the state where 

 it rarely occurs. 



