64 



ROSACEA. 



landscape, and contrasts well with the yellows and browns 

 which predominate at that season. 



The fruit of the Wild Cherry, well-known by the name 

 of Grean, is generally of a deep blackish red when ripe, 

 sometimes of a bright red ; and trees with berries of the 

 latter colour are said to be more vigorous in growth, and 

 to attain a greater size than the black-fruited kind, a 

 fact, however, we have not been able to verify from our 

 own experience. 



The berries are sweet, with a rich but peculiar flavour, 

 and much inferior in size to the cultivated varieties. They 

 are used to make a jelly or rob, and in the manufacture of 

 liqueurs, such as Cherry Brandy, Ratifia, &c. In France, 

 where the tree used to abound, the fruit constituted the 

 chief food of the wood-cutters and charcoal-burners in the 

 forests, being made into soup with bread and a little butter. 



Kirschwasser, an ardent spirit much used upon the Con- 

 tinent, is also made from it in Germany and Switzerland, 

 and the famed liqueur Maraschino is the product of a small- 

 acid cherry that abounds in the north of Italy and in 

 Dalmatia. The Grean is a favourite food of the Blackbird 

 and Thrush (Merula vulgaris and musica), also of the 



