CHAPTER XXXVII. 
CHERRY-TREES. 
Wild Black Cherry.—Its Native Range.—Preferred Use of its Wood. 
—Its Ornamental Character. —Its Productiveness. —Manner of 
Preserving and Sowing its Seed. —The Wild Red Cherry. —Its 
Attainable Height and Size—Its Qualities Contrasted with the 
Black Cherry.—Description and Qualities of its Wood.—Its Spon- 
taneous Growth.—Its Special Property.—The Wiid Cherry.—Its 
Medicinal Properties. 
WILD BLACK CHERRY. 
Tus tree is found all over the United States east of 
the Rocky Mountains. I have not seen much of it in 
the neighborhood of Iowa and Illinois, although the soil 
is eminently well fitted for it, but this is partly explained 
by the great prairie fires that have ravaged these dis- 
tricts and have destroyed the cherry-trees, while trees 
of the oak and hickory genus were not damaged, being 
much tougher and hardier. It was formerly much used 
in cabinet-work, and is preferred for many things to the 
black walnut. I have heard of some of the old houses of 
Virginia in which all the inside wood-work was made of 
cherry, and was fairly dark with age. A great many of 
the old fowling-pieces and pistols have highly polished 
cherry stocks that are not only things of beauty, but 
also good, serviceable weapons. The wood is not liable 
to warp, is of a light-red color, and darkens with age. 
It is a fine ornamental tree, but cannot be kept clear of 
caterpillars in open ground, becoming even more infest- 
ed with these pests than apple-trees are. It is never at- 
tacked by the caterpillar when growing in a grove or 
in forests. The timber is not of value until it has at- 
