THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



Alternative Names. Black Cherry : Wild Black Cherry (49) : 

 Spate Traubenkirsche (131). 



Sources of Supply. North America, Southern Canada and 

 Eastern U.S.A. (49). 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight, 36^ lbs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 7, soft, compare Deal, Alder, English 

 Birch. Smell or taste none. Burns well with a lively flame : 

 embers glow in still air. Solution with water faint brown ; 

 with alcohol afterwards, faint red. 



Grain. Very fine but open. Surface bright : the pores the 

 dullest, the rays the brightest part. 



Bark. " Smooth, close, the outer layer peeling off in strips 

 transversely — breaking into small hard scales of dark colour 

 and giving old trunks a very characteristic appearance" (49). 



Uses, etc. " One of the most valuable and popular of our 

 native woods (U.S.A.) for interior finishing and furniture " (49.) 



Authorities. Hough (49), pt. ii. p. 17. Wiesner (131), L. 6, p. 

 80. Sargent (100), p. 68. 



Colour. Uniform dark red. Sap-wood light yellowish (49). 



Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Need lens, fine, size 5, little variation : evenly distri- 

 buted, but a single line of pores following the boundary of the 

 ring : mostly single or in groups of from 2-3 pores : numerous 

 65-115 per sq. mm. : occasionally drops of dark red gum especially 

 in the pore-ring. 



Rays. Very sharp and clear : size 4, medium, uniform : 

 almost equidistant : gently curved, not avoiding the pores : 

 many, 4-6 per mm. : long, tapering both ends, much denser and 

 much lighter than the ground-tissue : more than a pore-width 

 apart. 



Rings. Clear : boundary a fine, dense line of Autumn wood 

 usually accompanied by a fairly continuous row of pores in the 

 early Spring wood. 



Soft-tissue. Isolated cells only : in considerable quantity but 

 scattered. (In certain species of Prunus it forms conspicuous 

 and characteristic flame-shaped patches.) Rows of gum-galls 

 resembling those of the Eucalypti occur here and there. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Rather lighter in shade than the above. The 

 pores are fine lines (need lens) containing frequent drops of gum 

 which are more easjly seen when moistened. The rays are small, 

 light-coloured flakes visible in certain lights : lustrous. The 

 rings are scarcely traceable. 



Tangential Section. As the Radial, but the pores are visible 

 to the naked eye as a fine, dull shading. The rays need lens, but 

 are broad, spindle-shaped, vertical lines about ro mm. high, 



108 



