OF FOREST-TREES. 



89 



LA UREL\ 



LAURO-CERASUS. The CHERRY-BAY. For the use we com- cHAP. v. 

 monly put this shrub to, it seems as if it had been only destined for 

 hedges, and to cover bare walls : being planted upright, and kept to the 



or placed under shelter, to protect them from the severity of the approaching winter,— 

 When planted out where they are to grow, little regard need be paid to soil or situation. 



The fruit of the Arbutus is said to have constituted part of the food of mankind in the 

 early ages, " Arbuteos foetus montanaque fragra legebant though, of all the wild fruits, 

 it must have been the most disgusting. The ancients themselves named it Unedo ; and 

 Pliny gives the reason, " cui nomen ex arguniento sit unum tantum edendi." However 

 disagreeable the fruit may have been, its shade was thought inviting : Horace says of it. 



Nunc viridi membra sub Arbuta stratus. 



Virgil mentions the leaves of this tree as peculiarly agreeable to goats in the winter 

 season : 



Post hinc digressus jubeo frondentia caprjs 



Arbuta sufBcere. georg. iii. 



"' This tree was formerly called LAURO-CERASUS, but Linnaeus has now made it a 

 species of the Prunus. In the Sp. PI. it is titled PRUNUS Clauro-cerasus ) floribus 

 racemosis, foliis sempervirentibus dorso biglandulosis. In Hort. Cliff. 185, it is called Padus 

 foliis sempervirentibus lanceolato-ovatis. The common laurel, or cherry-bay. 



It is of the class and order Icosandria Monogi/ma, 



The young leaves of the Laurel begin to open about the twelfth of March, and are 

 generally out by the middle of April. The flowers are white ; and though small, yet being 

 clustered together, they make a tolerable appearance : but the berries afford the greatest 

 beauty, being large, and when ripe, very black. 



This tree is a native of the East, and grows naturally about the Black Sea. It was first 

 ^)rought into Europe by Clusius, in the year 1 576 : and being easily propagated, is now 

 spread over Italy and the greatest part of Europe. 



The Laurel is propagated both by seeds and cuttings. If the former method is 

 practised, ' the seeds must be gathered from the trees when they are full ripe: this 

 will be known by their being quite black, which is generally about the beginning of 

 October. These seeds should be sown directly in beds of light earth, half an inch deep, 

 which must be afterwards hooped over, to be covered in very severe frosts. A hedge of 

 furze bushes should be made around them, to break the force of the freezing black winds, 

 and secure the seeds, together with the mats, from being destroyed. This is a much safer 



