WILD BLACK CHERRY. 249 



Propagation. Grown from seeds which should be stratified 

 and sown in the spring- or sown in autumn. They are dis- 

 tributed by robins, wax-wings and other birds that eat largely 

 of the fruit. The Wild Red Cherry has thus become a very 

 common tree in waste places, although not so common in our 

 section as eastward, where it is one of the first trees to come 

 in on old timber lands. 



Properties of wood. Light, soft, close grained, light brown 

 in color with thin yellow sapwood. Specific gravity 0.5023; a 

 cubic foot weighs 31.30 pounds. 



Uses.- -The Wild Red Cherry is very hardy, grows rapidly 

 under cultivation and is well adapted to prairie planting. It 

 is shapely and handsome although a short lived tree. In the 

 early spring it is conspicuous by reason of its great quantity 

 of white flowers. It might be used for shade in timber plant- 

 ings and for bird food. The fruit is used for domestic pur- 

 poses and in the preparation of cough mixtures. Seedlings 

 have been used to a limited extent as a stock for the culti- 

 vated cherries. 



Prunus serotina. Wild Black Cherry. Rum Cherry. 



Leaves oval oblong, or lanceolate-oblong taper-pointed, 

 serrate, with two to four reddish glands on petiole. Flowers 

 appear in June after the leaves are full grown, in long pendu- 

 lous white racemes. Fruit somewhat larger than a pea, purp- 

 lish black when ripe, smooth, one seeded, rarely two-seeded, 

 ripens in August or September in Minnesota. A large tree 

 sixty or more feet high but generally much smaller at the 

 limit of its range. 



Distribution. From Nova Scotia westward through the 

 ( 'anadian Provinces and northern states to Dakota and south 

 to Texas and Florida. In Minnesota common throughout all 

 but the extreme northern part of the state in woods along 

 shaded lake shores and banks. 



Propagation. The Wild Black Cherry is grown from seeds 

 which are produced in great abundance. They should be 

 sown when gathered in the autumn or stratified over winter 

 and sown in the spring. 



Properties of wood. Light, strong and rather hard with a 

 close, straight grain and satiny surface susceptible of receiving a 



