fresh from the trees, when drenched with the morning dew, and the stones being also swallowed, will purge effectually, and cure those afflicted with the gout in their feet. The hard-fleshed cherries are considered rather indigestible when eaten too freely; but the soft-fleshed kinds, such as the morellos, are esteemed sufficiently wholesome to be given in fevers, where there is a tendency to putridity. The soft-fleshed kinds are often dried, by being exposed on boards to the sun, or in an oven of moderate warmth. Ripe cherries are used for flavouring brandy; and preserves, marmalades, lozenges, and various other kinds of confectionary are manufactured from them. An oil is extracted from the kernels, which is occasionally used for emulsions, and to mix in creams, sugar-plums, etc., to impart to them the flavour of bitter almonds.

Judiciously planted in the shrubbery, the Cerasus vulgaris forms a very beautiful tree. In spring, its early white blossoms are contrasted with the sombre shades of green; and its graceful ruby and variegated balls, give a pleasing variety in summer.

Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pl. 90; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 410; and the figures below. Specific Characters. Leaves oval-oblong, acuminate, membranaceous, glabrous, denticulate, and almost in an eroded manner. Flowers on longish pedicels, and disposed nearly in a corymbose manner. Fruit nearly ovate, small; its flesh red.-De Candolle, Prodromus.

growing to a height of twenty or thirty feet, with a trunk six or eight inches in diameter, and covered with a smooth brownish bark, which detaches itself laterally. Its leaves are from two to six inches long, and somewhat resemble those of the common almond. Its flowers put forth in May or June, and occur in small, white bunches, which give birth to a small, red, intensely-acid fruit, that arrives at maturity in July. It is

+

described by Pursh to be agreeable to the taste, astringent in the mouth, and hence called choke cherry; but this name is ordinarily applied to another tree. Geography, &c. The northern cherry is found in a common soil from Newfoundland to the northern parts of the Rocky Mountains, and as far south as Virginia. It was introduced into Britain in 1822, and is growing at present in Messrs. Loddiges' arboretum, and other European collections. This tree, like the paper birch, is remarkable for springing up spontaneously, in old culti vated fields, or in such parts of the forests as have been burnt over by accident or design. Of all trees of North America, no one is so nearly allied to the Cerasus vulgaris as the present species; and hence it has been recommended as a suitable stock to graft that cherry upon. The wood of this tree is exceedingly hard, fine-grained, and of a reddish hue; but the inferior size to which it usually grows, forbids its use in the mechanic arts.

Derivations. Mahaleb is the Arabian name of this tree. The wood of this species is perfumed, and used by the French in cabinet-work, toys, &c., especially in the village of Ste. Lucie, whence some of the French and Italian names.

Engravings. Du Hamel, Traité des Arbres et Arbustes, v., pl. 2; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, vi., pl. 116; and the figures below.

Specific Characters. Leaves cordately ovate, denticulate, glanded, curved. Flowers in leafy sub-corymbose racemes. Fruit black, between ovate and round.-De Candolle, Prodromus.

Description.

HE Cerasus mahaleb is a
handsome small tree, with a
white bark, and numerous
branches. In its natural

habitat, it is seldom found above twenty feet in height;
but in a state of cultivation, in a good soil, it sometimes
attains double that elevation, with a trunk four feet in
circumference. The leaves somewhat resemble those of
the common apricot, but are of a paler green.
flowers put forth in April and May, and are succeeded
by black fruit much smaller than that of the Cerasus

The

sylvestris, very bitter to the taste, though greedily eaten by several species of birds. Varieties. Besides a tree with variegated leaves, Mr. Loudon mentions two others:

1. C. M. FRUCTU FLAVO. Yellow-fruited Perfumed Cherry-tree.

2. C. M. LATIFOLIUM. Broad-leaved Perfumed Cherry-tree.

Geography and History. The perfumed cherry is found wild in the middle and south of France, the south of Germany, Austria, Piedmont, and in Crim Tartary; and, according to Pallas, it grows in abundance on Mount Caucasus, where it differs from the European variety, in bringing forth both flowers and leaves at the same time, and the latter in being more cordate and acuminate. The tree is very common in the mountainous districts of France, and is very generally cultivated in England for the purposes of ornament. It was introduced into the last-named country in 1714, but was known long before, as Gerard remarks that, "the cunning French perfumers make bracelets, chains, and such like trifling toys, of the fruit, which they send to England, smeared over with some old sweet compound or other, and here sell unto our curious old ladies and gentlewomen, for rare and strange pomambers, for great sums of money."

At what period, and by whom, the Cerasus mahaleb was introduced into the United States, is uncertain. It is found in several of the American nurseries and

collections, and a tree, bearing this name, is standing in Washington square, in Philadelphia, which has nearly attained the utmost magnitude to which this species grows.

Soil, Situation, &c. According to Loudon, the perfumed cherry will thrive in any poor soil, that is not too dry, even in the most arid sands and naked chalks; and as it forms a low, bushy tree, which is capable of resisting the wind, it may be planted in an exposed situation. When young plants are to be raised from seeds, the fruit is sown as soon as ripe, or preserved in sand till the following spring, in the same manner as that recommended for the common cherry. The tree may also be propagated, in a moist climate, by layers, by slips from the stool, taken off with a few roots attached, by suckers, or by cuttings from the roots. In France, it is extensively raised as a stock on which to graft the different kinds of cherries, for which, it has not only the advantage of growing on a very poor soil, but of coming into sap about fifteen days later than the gean, by which means the grafting season is prolonged, and of dwarfing the plants grafted upon it. Yet, as in the case of other dwarf species of a genus which will unite with a tall, robust-growing tree, the perfumed cherry, when grafted on the Cerasus sylvestris, attains a larger size than when grown on its own roots.

Properties and Uses. The wood of the Cerasus mahaleb is of a reddish-gray, hard, compact, and is susceptible of a high polish. When green, it possesses a powerful odour, but less so, and more agreeable, when dry, in which last condition it weighs nearly sixty pounds to a cubic foot. In France, it is much sought after by cabinet-makers, on account of its fragrance, and is sold by them, green, in thin veneers, because in that state it does not crack, or at least, the slits or chinks, are less perceptible. In the Vosges, in the vicinity of the Abbey of Ste. Lucie, it is much sought after by turners, and for the manufacture of snuff-boxes and tobacco-pipes. It is also highly prized for fuel, on account of the fragrance which it sends out when burning. The leaves are powerfully fragrant, more particularly when dried,—are greedily eaten by cattle and sheep, and are used by cooks for giving flavour to game. The flowers and fruit, like the wood and leaves, are powerfully scented, the former being so much so, as to be almost insupportable in a close room, even when they have remained only for a short time. The kernels of the fruit are employed by perfumers to scent soap. In Britain and America, this species is principally cultivated as a hedge-plant, or as an ornamental shrub or low tree.

Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pl. 88; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, ii., fig. 418 et vi. pl. 114, the figures below.

and

Specific Characters. Leaves (rather coriaceous) oval, oblong, or lanceolate-oblong, acuminate, glabrous, or bearded along the midrib beneath, smooth and shining above, finely serrate, with appressed, or incurved callous teeth; petioles, (or base of the leaf,) mostly with two or more glands; racemes elongated, spreading; petals broadly obovate; drupes globose, purplish-black.-Torrey and Gray, Flora.

growth, sometimes attains a height of eighty or one hundred feet, with a trunk three or four feet in diameter; but it varies much in size, according to the circumstances under which it grows. In England and the North American British provinces, it seldom exceeds thirty or forty feet in height, with a trunk ten or twelve inches in diameter; and in the neighbourhood of the Great Slave Lake, in latitude 62° N., it grows only to a height of about five feet. The general surface of the bark is smooth; but it is blackish and rough, detaching itself in narrow semi-circular, hard, thick plates, which adhere for a time to the tree, previous to dropping off. The trunk is usu

ally straight for about one fourth of its height, where it ramifies into a spreading summit of a handsome outline; but its foliage is too thin to display that massy richness which gives so much beauty to the maples and many other trees. The leaves are usually from two to four inches long, toothed, very much pointed, and of a beautiful, smooth, shining green, with two or more small reddish glands at the base. The flowers are white, and occur in spikes, which, when fully expanded, have a beautiful effect. They put forth in Florida and the state of Georgia in the month of February, but in some parts of Canada, not before the early part of June. The fruit is about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, of a