THE CHERRY. 



Cerasus sylyestris. 

 Cerasus yulgaris. 



Natural Order — Rosacea. 

 Class — IcosANDRiA. Order — Monogynia. 



The subject of the present memoir afFords 

 another eminent example, in addition to that 

 recorded in the last chapter, of the beneficence 

 of the Almighty in permitting man to control 

 the course and operations of Nature, so as to 

 render them, in a measure, subserYient to his 

 gratification and adYantage. Human industry, 

 we haYe seen, has couYerted the Thorn of the 

 primaeval curse into the fruitful Plum, and in 

 I the Cherry-tree Y'e have another instance scarcely 

 less remarkable ; by dint of careful perseverance, 

 a juiceless unpalatable berry becomes a delicious 

 and nourishing fruit. The success Y'hich has 

 attended the eff'orts of earlier cultivators ought, 

 , therefore, to supply us ^Yith a delightful incen- 

 ( tive to industry, and, at the same time, a power- 

 ' ful motive to gratitude to our great Creator and 

 Preserver. It ^Yere Y'ell if vve never failed to 

 ; raise our hearts in thankfulness to Him for the 

 t power Y'hich he has given us to employ for our 

 i own use and profit the ^'lixing thmgs that move," 

 which Y^e have domesticated, and ^^the trees, in 

 the which is the fruit of a tree-yielding seed," 



