140 [Assembly 



Italy. The Romans had them propagated into all the countries they 

 conquered. Within a hundred years after their introduction by Lucullus 

 into Rome, they spread as far as the Rhine, in Germany. They were 

 introduced into Britain as early as 1415, and belong to the twelfth 

 class of Linnams, Icosandria Monogynia. The gum that exudes from 

 the cherry tree, is equal to gum arabic. It is said that a hundred men 

 during a seige were kept alive by taking this gum occasionally in 

 their mouths, for more than two months. Delicious beverage is made 

 from the Mazzard cherry in Europe. The Germans distil from them 

 Kerschwasser, and Ratifia cordial is made at Grenoble ; Maraschino 

 by the Italians, which is a very celebrated liquor. The wood too is 

 quite celebrated as a substitute for mahogany, tables and other pieces 

 of furniture are made of it ; the grain of the wood is fine, and capa- 

 ble of receiving a high polish. In Germany there are avenues of 

 cherry trees 70 miles in length, planted on either side of the public 

 thoroughfares. In Switzerland you meet with them in every direc- 

 tion. In some parts of Europe the people are commanded by the 

 government to plant them along the public roads, in such cases travel- 

 lers are allowed to eat as many as they choose, except the trees are 

 marked by their ow^ners for their own use. If a person should ap- 

 propriate to himself fruit from a marked tree, he would be considered 

 not only base, but a thief. When travelling in Germany I requested 

 the postillion to get me cherries from a tree which appeared to be 

 loaded with the finest imraaginable variety of fruit. He said, sir, the 

 tree is marked, and I would not touch a cherry growing upon that 

 tree for one hundred scudi. 



The Black Tartarian, originated in Russia, and was introduced into 

 England in 1796, and in this country some 25 years since, it still 

 ranks among our best sorts; Knight's early Black Bigarreau and El- 

 ton are fine varieties and well worth cultivating. 



The Apple, (Pyrus Malus,) A. J. Downing says the apple is the 

 world renowned fruit of temperate climates. From the most remote 

 periods it has been tha -ubject of praise among writers and poets, 

 and the old mythologies, all endow its fruit with wonderful virtues. 



The allegorical tree of knowledge bore apples, and the celebrated 

 golden fruit of the orchard of Hesperus, guarded by the sleepless 

 dragon which it is one of the triumphs to slay, were also apples ac- 

 cording to the old legends. Among the heathen gods of the north, 



