ROSE FAMILY 



macerated and soaked in rum or brandy they give to the 

 liquor a peculiar and agreeable flavor, making what is known 

 as Cherry Bounce. This flavor is due to a principle called' 

 amygdaiin, found also in laurel leaves, bitter almonds, peach 

 and plum stones, which under the action of a ferment breaks 

 up into grape sugar, oil of bitter almonds, and hydrocyanic 

 or prassic acid. This active principle exists in very many of 

 the Jiosaic\e, notably in 'Prunus cai-oliniana, a southern ever- 

 green species which is e.xteiisively used in the south as a 

 hedge plant. It is there against the law to throw the prun- 

 ings of this plant into the street or where they may be eaten 

 by cattle. Birds in fact have been known to be overcome by 

 a too greedy consumption of black cherries. 



'I'he bark of the Ijlack Cherry is bitter and aromatic and 

 held a large place among the home remedies of an earlier 

 generation. 



The flowers are small, closely set by short stems in a sim- 

 ple raceme. The central a.\is is erect or curved upward in 

 flowering, which begins at the bottom ; afterward it bends 

 with the weight of the fruit. Only a small proportion of the 

 flowers produce fruit. 



The tree is large and sturdy with a spreading handsome 

 head, and may be easily known by its smooth, shining, red- 

 dish bro>vn branches, for only the trunk becomes rough, and 

 in young trees that is smooth, 'i'he spray is slender and 

 pendulous. The smooth shining leaves are set alternately 

 and rather close together, and often in midsummer heat they 

 assume _the poise of the ash and at a distance when only part 

 of the tree can be seen it may easily be mistaken for an ash. 



The Black Cherry grows very rapidly, often adding an inch 

 a year to its diameter. The wood is firm, close-grained, of a 

 light red, darkening with age. It takes a fine polish and 

 when perfectly seasoned will not shrink or warp, and is much 

 used in the manufacture of furniture. 



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