The black cherry may be identified in winter by its bark and by the disagreeable bitter taste of its stems,—no other tree has a strong, peculiar, pungent taste like this. The bark of the young trees is really beautiful, it is so smooth and has such a rich reddish brown color; in some characteristics it resembles that of the black birch, but the larger, coarser lenticels distinguish it from that tree. The black cherry is a valuable timber tree. The wood is light, strong, and hard, and takes a fair polish. It is used in cabinet making and for the interior finish of houses. The bark of the branches and roots is much used in medicine, and the ripe fruit is used to flavor alcoholic liquors. The meaning of the generic name, _Prunus_, is unknown, but it is thought to be of Asiatic origin. The specific name, _serotina_ (late flowering), refers to the blossoms of this tree, which appear in June, later than those of other cherries. It is found from Nova Scotia to Florida, and reaches its greatest size in the Western forests. _Prunus virginiana_, the choke cherry, and _Prunus pennsylvanica_, the wild red, bird, or pin cherry, are two small trees found more or less frequently in the woods throughout the Atlantic States. They are both distinguished from the black cherry by their red instead of black fruit. The common sweet cherry (_Prunus avium_), the common peach tree (_Prunus persica_), and the common garden plum (_Prunus domestica_) all belong to this genus and are widely cultivated in the United States. They are small trees with many varieties and are planted for their fruit. The cherry was brought from Asia to Italy, and from there it was rapidly carried to all parts of Europe. The peach came originally from China, and was brought to Great Britain by the Romans, who got it from Persia during the reign of the Emperor Claudius. It was carried to North America by the first settlers at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The difficulty of raising peaches successfully in the Northern States is not so much due to the cold weather as to the swelling of the buds on warm winter days and in the early spring, which are afterwards destroyed if the thermometer goes below zero. An interesting experiment of whitewashing peach trees, to prevent the buds from absorbing heat on sunny days, was tried by Mr. Whitten of the Missouri Experiment Station, and it was found that whitened buds remained dormant until April, while unprotected buds swelled perceptibly in February and March. Eighty per cent of whitened buds passed the winter safely, where only twenty per cent of unwhitened buds escaped injury by premature swelling. [Sidenote: Shad Bush; Service Berry; June Berry _Amelanchier canadensis_] _A small tree, 40 to 50 feet high, with smooth brown bark. Slender twigs. The buds are brown and covered with slightly downy, silky scales, and the leaf-scars are alternate._