THE BIRD-CHERRY. 



Cerasus padus. 



The Bird-Cherry in its wild state rarely attains 

 the dimensions of a tree ; but there are in exist- 

 ence cultivated specimens between thirty and forty 

 feet high, and a foot or more in diameter. It 

 is most worthy of attention for its copious long 

 clusters of snow-white flowers, which are much 

 smaller than those of the Cherry, and soon fade. 

 The fruit, called also Foiol-Cherry , Cluster-Cherry ^ 

 and in Scotland Hag -Cherry , is small and worth- 

 less. Birds of several kinds soon devour this 

 fruit, which is nauseous, and probably dangerous 

 to mankind, though perhaps not of so deadly a 

 quality as the essential oil, or distilled water of 

 the leaves."* It is most abundant in the north 

 of England and Scotland. In Gerard's time it 

 grevv^ wild in the woods of Kent, where it was 

 used as a stock to graft Cherries on : and in 

 Lancashire it was found in almost every hedge. 

 The wood is much used in France by the cabinet- 

 maker, but Httle known in this country ; owing, 

 among other causes, to the difficulty of obtaining 

 it sufficiently large. The leaves are more fre- 

 quently attacked by caterpillars than those of any 

 other species of Cherry ; hence, a ^Titer in the 

 Agricultural Journal of Bavaria recommends that 



* English Flora. 



T 



