158 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



screws, and for mallets, such as are used by tin- 

 men and carpenters. In Philadelphia, lasts for 

 shoes are made of persimmon wood ; in North 

 Carolina they make wedges of it, for splitting 

 logs ; in South Carolina the shafts of gigs are 

 generally made of persimmon wood, and I 

 have been told that there is scarcely any other 

 kind so good for this purpose. A gum may 

 be obtained by piercing the bark, but in very 

 small quantities, and I do not know that it is 

 good for much ; the bark is exceedingly 

 bitter, and I have heard that it is useful for 

 medicinal purposes ; but I suspect that the 

 Peruvian bark is a great deal better. 



"The next kind of tree that I have to 

 describe to you is one that you are pretty 

 familiar with, at least with one of its varie- 

 ties, — the poplar." 



" Oh yes. Uncle Philip, we have seen hun- 

 dreds of them ; they grow almost every- 

 where." 



" And yet the kind you know so well is not 

 a native American tree ; the poplar that is so 

 common is called the Lombardy poplar, and 

 the reason why it is so much cultivated in 

 preference to the other kinds is, that it grows 

 so fast ; but none of them are of much use as 



