CHAP. XLII. ftOSA V CEJE. C'e'kaSUS. 6i)5 



horizontally, or slightly inclining upwards, and, when young and without their 

 leaves, bearing a distant resemblance to gigantic candelabras, such as the 

 geans, and many of the heart cherries ; fastigiate trees of a smaller size, 

 such as the dukes ; and small trees with weak wood, and branches divergent 

 and drooping, such as the Kentish or Flemish cherries, and the morellos. 

 The leaves vary so much in the cultivated varieties, that it is impossible to 

 characterise the sorts by them ; but, in general, those of the large trees are 

 largest, and the lightest in colour, and those of the slender-branched trees 

 the smallest, and the darkest in colour ; the flowers are also largest on the 

 large trees. The fruits of all the sorts, with the exception of the Kentish 

 and the morello cherries, are eagerly devoured by birds, from the stones drop- 

 ped by which in the woods, all the varieties considered as wild have, pro- 

 bably, arisen. The distinction of two species, or races, is of very little use, 

 with reference to cherries as fruit-bearing plants ; but, as the wild sort is very 

 distinct, when found in its native habitats, from the cherry cultivated in gar- 

 dens, it seems worth while to keep them apart, with a view to arboriculture 

 and ornamental planting. For this reason, also, we have kept Cerasus sem- 

 perflorens, C. Pseudo-Cerasus, C. serrulata, C. persicifolia, and C. Chamae- 

 cerasus apart, though we are convinced that they are nothing more than 

 varieties of the same species as the fruit-bearing cherries. The wild cherry is 

 much more common, as a timber tree, in Scotland, and in France and Ger- 

 many, than it is in England. In Scotland and France, there are two sorts 

 planted for their timber, the red-fruited and the black-fruited; and it has 

 been observed, that the red-fruited variety has larger leaves, which are paler, 

 and more deeply serrated than the black-fruited variety, and that it grows 

 more rapidly and vigorously. Cook mentions that he measured a wild cherry 

 tree in Cashiobury Wood, that was 85 ft. 5 in. high (Forest Trees, &c, 3d. edit., 

 1724, p. 92.) ; and the Rev. Dr.Walker describes one at the Holm, in Galloway, 

 as being 50 ft. high, in 1763. In consequence of its rapid growth, the red- 

 fruited variety ought to be preferred where the object is timber, or where 

 stocks are to be grown for fruit trees of large size. As a coppice-wood tree, 

 the stools push freely and rapidly ; and, as a timber tree, it will attain its full 

 size, in ordinary situations, in 50 years; after which it should be cut down. 

 Its rate of growth, in the first 10 years, will average, in ordinary circum- 

 stances, 18 in. a year. 



Geography. The cherry, in a wild state, is indigenous in France and cen- 

 tral Europe, including Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Greece, and the Me- 

 diterranean islands. It is also found in Russia, as far north as 55° or 56°. 

 n. lat. ; and it ripens fruit in Norway and East Bothnia, as far as 63° n. lat., 

 though it is not indigenous. It is found in the north of Africa, and in the 

 north and east of Asia. In England, it is met with in woods and hedges. It 

 grows on mountains to the height of 1600 ft. in the north of England; and 

 a dwarf variety abounds at Barandam, in the neighbourhood of Sleaford, in 

 Lincolnshire. It is found apparently wild in Scotland and Ireland ; and there 

 is a dwarf variety indigenous to Ross-shire. 



History. All the ancient authors who speak of the cherry agree in assign- 

 ing to that tree an Asiatic origin. Pliny states that it did not exist in Italy 

 till after the victory which Lucullus obtained over Mithridates, King of 

 Pontus, 68 b. c. Some modern authors, however, have doubted this, and 

 among these are Ray, Linnaeus, and the Abbe Rosier. According to Rosier, 

 Lucullus brought into Italy only two superior varieties of cherry ; the spe- 

 cies which were the origin of all those now in cultivation being, before his 

 time, indigenous to Italy, and to the forests of France, though their fruit was 

 neglected by the Romans. Loiseleur, in the Nouveau Du Hamel, combats 

 this opinion ; stating that, though the wild cherry is undoubtedly indigenous 

 to France, yet that it does not appear to have been so to Italy ; and that even 

 in France, only the C. sylvestris, or merisier, is found in the forests ; while the 

 C. vulgaris, or cerisier, is never found in an apparently wild state in any 

 country in Europe, except near human habitations. From this Loiseleur 



