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[Bevanron <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

> I cut a half dead limb from the cherry(black cherry) at the road and
> I am working on de-barking that.  I'll end up with a grocery bag full
> of bark from that limb.  I am taking both the inner and outer
> bark-not sure about that, either, as to which one is better.

After a bit of reading and confirming with online research, I found this
page:
http://www.healthy.net/scr/mmedica.asp?MTId=1&Id=296
which says to use the INNER bark.  Also this information is based on
Prunus serotina, which is the Black Cherry.


> I haven't ventured up into the woods to the chokecherry yet, but I
> did scope out another cherry, It's either a black or a pin, (I need
> to take the book out there to be sure)

I did go out and take a closer look with the book in hand, and it is
also a Black Cherry.  I have plenty of black cherry bark!  I noticed
that some books list pin cherries as being this far south, and others
don't show it much further south than Virginia.  I may have to trek more
to make sure what I think is a pin cherry, is in fact, a pin cherry.  It
could be something else.
I also came across two trees that are not in my books....one looks to be
related to-or maybe is-the elm family, and the other looks like some
kind of miniature sassafras.  Also, the trees that I always thought of
as sugar maples are actually black maples.....for those of you up north
in sugar maple country, what's the practical difference?  More sugar
content in the sap?  I know I have drank the sap from these Black Maples
with no ill effect, and my goats robbed the trees of their lower
branches and would stand underneath the branch while the sap ran out
like water into their mouths!
I love trees...I must have been an elf in another life...my feet are big
enough!

Bev
--
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net  BevanRon of EarthNSky Farm      NW Georgia USDA Zone 7
34.498N 85.076W