FRUIT TREES.
I need not to observe that these are all the spontaneous productions of nature, which have never received the advantages of ingrafting, transplanting, or manuring.
The Vine, the Mulberry Tree, the Crab Apple Tree, the Plum Tree, the Cherry Tree, and the Sweet Gum Tree.
The VINE is very common here, and of three kinds; the first sort hardly deserves the name of a grape; the second much resembles the Burgundy grape, and if exposed to the sun a good wine might be made from them. The third sort resembles Zant currants, which are so frequently used in cakes, &c. in England, and if proper care was taken of them, would be equal, if not superior, to those of that country.
The MULBERRY TREE is of two kinds, red and white, and nearly of the same size of those of France and Italy, and grow in such plenty, as to feed any quantity of silk worms.
The CRAB APPLE TREE bears a fruit that is much larger and better flavoured than those of Europe.
The PLUM TREE. There are two sorts of plums in this country, one a large sort of a purple cast on one side, and red on the reverse, the second totally green, and much smaller. Both these are of a good flavour, and are greatly esteemed by the Indians, whose taste is not refined, but who are satisfied with the productions of nature in their unimproved state.
The CHERRY TREE. There are three sorts of cherries in this country; the black, the red, and the sand cherry; the two latter may with more propriety be ranked among the shrubs, as the bush that bears the sand cherries almost creeps along the ground, and the other rises not above eight or ten feet in height; however I shall give an account of them all in this place. The black cherries are about the size of a currant, and hang in clusters like grapes; the trees which bear them being very fruitful, they are generally loaded, but the fruit is not good to eat, however they give an agreeable flavour to brandy, and turn it to the colour of claret. The red cherries grow in the greatest profusion, and hang in bunches like the black sort just described; so that the bushes which bear them appear at a distance like solid bodies of red matter. Some people admire this fruit, but they partake of the nature and taste of alum, leaving a disagreeable roughness in the throat, and being very astringent. As I have already described the sand cherries, which greatly exceed the two other sorts both in flavour and size, I shall give no further description of them. The wood of the black cherry-tree is very useful, and works well into cabinet ware.
The SWEET GUM TREE or LIQUID AMBER (Copalm) is not only extremely common, but it affords a balm, the virtues of which are infinite. Its bark is black and hard, and its wood so tender and supple, that when the tree is felled, you may draw from the middle of it rods of five or six feet in length. It cannot be employed in building or furniture, as it warps continually. Its leaf is indented with five points like a star. This balm is reckoned by the Indians to be an excellent febrifuge, and it cures wounds in two or three days.