268 



THE CHERRY. 



Hasselquist relates that more than a hundred 

 men^ during a siege^ were kept ahve for nearly 

 two months, without any other sustenance than 

 a little of this gum, taken sometimes into the 

 mouth, and suffered gradually to dissolve. 



The timber is very valuable, being of a firm 

 texture, red-coloured, close-grained, easily work- 

 ed, and susceptible of a high polish. These 

 qualities render it a desirable material to the 

 cabinet-maker, and the furniture made of it is 

 little, if at all inferior, both in respect to beauty 

 and durability, to that of the plainer kinds of 

 mahogany. In this country, where the wood 

 just mentioned has in a great measure super- 

 seded all other kinds in our articles of furniture, 

 and where the Cherry-tree has never been cul- 

 tivated to any extent as a timber tree, it is rare 

 to meet with specimens of furniture made of 

 its wood ; but in France, and other parts of the 

 Continent where it abounds, it is extensively 

 used for this and various other purposes, and 

 is eagerly purchased by the cabinet-maker, the 

 turner, and the musical-instrument maker. Its 

 value, however, is not restricted to the uses 

 made of it by those artisans ; it is equally ap- 

 plicable to out-of-door uses and general car- 

 pentry ; and where exposure to the atmosphere, 

 or the alternation of dryness and moisture is 

 required, it is superior to most other timber we 

 possess, and is only inferior to the best Oak, or 1 

 its rival the Larch." * ^ 

 When treated as coppice, it is very useful for ' 

 hop-poles, props for vines, and hoops for casks. 



^ Selby. 



