34 



The little wild red cherry, (Prunus pennsylvanica) , 

 common everywhere after the cutting or burning of 

 woodlands, is an attractive roadside tree, and the beach 

 plum, common at Plum Island, has made its way into 

 the interior, along the walls, where it is said the stones 

 have been thrown by farmers returning from their salt 

 marsh haying trips. There is a good specimen opposite 

 the horse railroad stables just beyond the Forest Eiver 

 Mills. Of the cultivated peaches and plums little need 

 be said, for there are few of note in gardens, and prob- 

 ably none in the streets. 



The cherry, once a popular street tree in Salem, has 

 been relegated to yards and gardens. The trees which 

 bear our June and July cherries often grow to great size. 

 They have been evolved from the European tree (Prunus 

 avium) and cherry trees in England sometimes reach 

 the height of eighty or ninety feet. There is one very 

 large cherry tree in a yard on Dodge street court, and 

 a row of quite tall trees by the stone wall on Lafayette 

 street, just beyond Loring avenue, which are evidently 

 from stones accidently thrown there. In Topsfield, 

 Boxford and elsewhere, by old farms, one often sees 

 clumps of low cherry trees with a profusion of flowers 

 in May. These are the old fashioned cherries of our 

 grandmothers' cherrj' pies ; and a friend who is a judge 

 in such matters assures me that they are not surpassed 

 by any of the modern substitutes. The tree is known 

 as Prunus cerasus. 



June twenty-third. 



