Part 30

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.

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.

The shad bush is strongly associated with the rich upland woods of New England, and in the early spring its white flowers are among the first to appear among the budding trees and shrubs, when the streams are full and the shad begin to rise. In winter there are no marked characteristics by which it may be known, apart from its general resemblance to other genera in the family, and its delicate twigs, small pointed buds with overlapping scales, and inconspicuous leaf-scars.

The wood is close-grained, heavy, and exceedingly hard, and is used for the handles of tools and other small implements.

The generic name, Amelanchier, is the Savoy name for the medlar. The shad bush is found from Newfoundland to Northern Florida and westward.

CHAPTER XIV

THE WILLOWS AND POPLARS

Salix alba

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Chapter XIV

THE WILLOWS AND POPLARS

Family Salicaceæ

Among the willows there are so many hybrids and varieties that their classification is difficult even in summer when an analysis of the flowers is possible. Most of the species in the Eastern States are shrubs, and I have chosen the only large tree, the white willow, as a representative species for study in winter. The genus Populus also belongs to this family, of which four species grow commonly in New England.

Salix alba]

A large tree, 50 to 80 feet high, with thick, rough bark and lithe branches. The twigs are smooth and often yellow in color, and the small alternate leaf-scars have three bundle-scars. The buds are pointed, covered with a single scale and placed close against the stems. The lateral buds are numerous and are usually larger than the terminal buds.

The white willow is really a native of Europe, but for generations in New England it has associated itself with country landscapes, and there is scarcely a marshy meadow or a stream through a pasture with a water course unmarked by a row of these trees. It seems wonderful that the buds of willows should survive our cold Northern winters as they do, for they are covered with a single scale of delicate texture, and the little undeveloped leaves seem perilously near the cold. The soft woolly catkins of some species,—“the pussy willows,”—which come before the leaves, carry their own protection from cold weather, and even in January, when a few warm days bring them out prematurely, they look comfortable; but the little leaves with their single coverings never come out before the right time, and they never appear to have suffered.

The wood is weak and soft, and little use is made of it. The value of the twigs in basket making has been recognized since early Roman times, Cato having ranked the salictum, or willow field, next in value to the vineyard and the garden.

The generic name comes from the Celtic words sal, near, lis, water, in allusion to its aquatic nature. It grows on all kinds of soil, and is widely naturalized in the United States.

The weeping willow (Salix babylonica) is planted in gardens and may be distinguished by its very slender, long drooping branches, which in every limb suggest the sentiment of a hundred years ago. In allusion to its place among other trees in landscape composition, Mrs. Van Rensselaer says in “Art Out of Doors”:—

“As soon as we see a weeping willow it almost shouts out its contrast to the simpler shapes of the trees which determine the general character of all our landscapes or garden pictures. Yet we see it everywhere, in every kind of situation.

“In all my wanderings I never once have seen it rightly placed; I never once have seen it where it did not hurt the effect of its surroundings, or, at least, if it stood apart from other trees, where some tree of another species would not have looked far better.”

The black willow (Salix nigra) is the only one among our native willows which grows to a good size, but even this is seldom more than thirty feet high.

Populus tremuloides]

A medium sized tree, 30 to 60 feet high, with a smooth, greenish gray bark and tapering trunk. The twigs are slender. The buds are long, sharp-pointed, with smooth, glossy scales covered with a gummy substance. Alternate leaf-scars.

The aspen is more conspicuous in summer, when the constant motion of its trembling leaves attracts our attention, than it is in winter, although in some trees the smooth, olive-green bark of the trunk is very attractive, particularly in contrast with the snow. There have been endless allusions in literature to the European aspen, which resembles our species. In a simile showing the activity of Penelope’s maidens, Homer says:—

“Some ply the loom; their busy fingers move Like poplar leaves when zephyr fans the grove.”