* The Cherry. 



Swamps which produce the White Cedar are a valuable 

 " species of property, and might be rendered more profit- 

 " able by more judicious management/' 



In Latin, Cerasus ; in French, Cerisier. 



177. The Botanical characters are : — The flower has a bell-shaped empale- 

 ment of one leaf, cut into five parts ; it has live round large petals, which 

 spread open, and are inserted in the empalement ; and from twenty to thirty 

 stamina, which are nearly as long as the petals, and are also inserted in the 

 empalement, terminated by twin summits. It has a roundish germen, sup- 

 porting a slender style, crowned by an orbicular stigma. The germen turns 

 aftel'wards to a roundish fruit, enclosing a nut of the same form. 



178. I am not about to speak of the fruit-tvees of this 

 species; but solely of those trees which are useful as timber, 

 and these are three in number; 1. Our native wild cherry ; 

 the American wild red cherry^ and the American wild black 

 cherry, 



179. The ENGLISH WILD CHERRY tree, which 

 bears a little blackish and sometimes reddish fruit, will 

 grow to a great size; it grows fast; its trunk is very 

 straight, and its timber is pretty good ; being better, at any 

 rate, than that of the Beech, or of the Elm, for boards; and, 

 indeed, it is not amiss for the making of furniture, being 

 of a reddish colour, compact, and admitting of a fine polish. 

 As underwood, it is not good ; in poles, it is of bad shape ; 

 and nothing like equal to the Ash in quality. It is wholly 

 unfit for hoops, hurdles, stakes, or any other of the most 

 profitable uses of underwood. If stems of it be met with 

 in Gur coppices, I have always seen their produce cut up 



