Back Aa

Trees, Shown to the Children

Close

<h2>PLATE XXIV THE WILD CHERRY OR GEAN</h2> There are now more than forty varieties of Cherry in Britain, and they all are descended from the Gean or Wild Cherry tree. This favourite tree belongs to the great Rose family, and is related to the Apple, and Pear, and Plum. It grows freely all over Britain except in the very north of Scotland; and we read that six hundred years ago the county of Kent was famous for its Cherry orchards. <hr class="tb" /> Plate XXIV <ANTIMG src="images/i_161.jpg" alt="" /> THE WILD CHERRY 1. Wild Cherry or Gean in Autumn2. Flower Cluster with Leaves3. Fruit <hr class="tb" /> In Germany the Cherry is planted for many miles by the roadsides, so that all passers-by may eat the fruit and enjoy the shade cast by the tall trees. And if there should be any particular tree whose fruit the owner does not wish taken, he ties a wisp of straw round that tree, and the people understand the sign and do not touch these Cherries. In France the Wild Cherry fruit, along with a little bread and butter, is often the only food of the poor charcoal-burners and wood-cutters, who stay in the forest during the cold winter months. Song birds, especially the blackbirds, love to eat cherries, and as we are very grateful to the birds for eating the many grubs and insects which destroy our fruit and corn, we must not grudge them a feast from our Cherry trees. It is probably the birds who have carried the seeds to the many different places where we find Cherry trees springing up. The Wild Cherry (1) is a tall tree with wide-spreading branches. It has a smooth grey bark, from which you will often see oozing large drops of clear gum. This gum is very sticky, it will not melt in cold water, and it is very difficult to remove from your fingers. The Wild Cherry leaves (2) appear in spring, long oval leaves ending in a point, and with sharp teeth along the edge. These leaves are very soft, and they droop from the twigs. At first the leaf is folded lengthways, with the two edges meeting, and it is a dull brown colour; but this colour soon changes in the sunshine to a soft green, and when autumn comes you find leaves of every shade of pink and red and crimson. The large white Cherry blossoms (2) come almost at the same time as the leaves, and they grow in loose clusters, in which the flowers hang from the end of long, drooping stalks. There are always many small leaf-like scales where these flower stalks join the twig. Each blossom has a pear-shaped calyx at the end of the flower stalk, and this calyx is edged with five green points. These points fold back against the stalk after the flower is withered. There are five large snowy petals which make the flower clusters look very lovely in the spring sunshine, but the petals fall very quickly and strew the ground with their snowy flakes. Within the petal circle there are many slender stamens, and you can see a long red-tipped point rising from the seed-vessel, which lies concealed in the pear-shaped calyx which stands beneath the petals and sepals. The Wild Cherry fruit (3) is black, and sometimes dark red. It is rather sour, and the cherries we buy in the shops are usually cherries which have been cultivated in an orchard, and have been grown in a warmer country. In Cambridgeshire there is a festival called Cherry Sunday, when every one goes to the Cherry orchard, and on paying sixpence may eat as many cherries as he pleases. For some unknown reason the cuckoo has always been associated with the Cherry tree. There is an old proverb which says, “The cuckoo never sings till he has thrice eaten his fill of cherries”; and country children play a delightful game in which he has a part. They join hands and dance round a Cherry tree, singing— “Cuckoo, Cherry tree, Come down and tell to me, How many years I have to live.” Then each child shakes one of the Cherry tree branches, and the number of cherries that fall tell him how many years he will live. If five cherries fall he has five years to live, and if twelve cherries fall he will live twelve years, and so on. There is a cunning little bird called the woodpecker which very often visits the Cherry tree. He eats the insects that live on its bark; and you can hear his bill peck, pecking at the trunk as he picks up his food. The wood of the Cherry tree is hard, yet easily worked. It is much in demand by furniture makers, and is a rich red colour which can be highly polished. <hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2