402 
DECIDUOUS TREES. 
feet high. In swampy ground we have seen trees from sixty to 
seventy feet high, and covered to the base with wiry branches. 
The trunk rarely exceeds eighteen inches in diameter. 
In warm rich and moist soils the tupelo 
changes its character and becomes a wide- 
spreading small tree, still retaining its 
tendency to a conical form in some de- 
gree. Fig. 126 is a characteristic form 
of the tupelo, being the portrait of a tree 
about thirty years old, grown on a com- 
mon dry upland, but does not do justice 
to the clearness of its shadows. On rich 
ground it spreads more, and takes the 
form of a small cedar of Lebanon. 
The leaves of the tupelo are about 
three inches long, pointed-oval, thick, uncommonly glossy, and of 
a dark green. They appear late in the spring, and fall early ; but 
before they fall their color is unsurpassed in purity and brilliancy by 
that of any other tree, varying from a fiery scarlet to a deep crim- 
son. It is an essential tree in any group designed to exhibit the 
brilliancy of autumn foliage, and a pleasing lawn tree at all times 
when in leaf. When out of leaf its dark bark and angular twiggi- 
ness is not pleasing. The tree is easily transplanted, and will 
grow in any moist soil, but improves like most other trees in 
proportion as the soil is deep and rich. 
The other varieties of the tupelo are the JV. grandidenta^ or 
tooth-leaved, a large tree of the southern States ; the N. candicans, 
or Ogeechee lime tree, a southern tree also, of smaller size ; and the 
N. sylvatica^ or black gum — none of them notable for their beauty. 
THE CHERRY TREE. Cerasus. 
The edible fruit-trees of the cherry family are divided into two 
classes, viz : the C. sylvestris, or wild black-fruited, and C. vulgaris ; 
the latter embracing all the Kentish, morello, and sour red cher- 
ries j and it is supposed that all the finer varieties of cherries have 
