286 In Touch with Nature. 



ginia, you meet with different ways of preparing 

 the persimmon," and the older Bartram told him 

 "that they were commonly put upon the table 

 amongst the sweetmeats ;" and again, we have a 

 description of how the English and Swedes, a 

 century and a half ago, brewed " a very palatable 

 liquor." The first step was to bake loaves of per- 

 simmon bread, and these were then reduced to a 

 pulp, mixed with malt, and so on, until the beer 

 was ready to be bottled. 



Did the persimmon bear no noticeable fruit the 

 tree would not be overlooked by the rambler, be- 

 cause, as Kalm has said, it grows by the water- 

 pits. A tree some fifty feet in height, standing 

 alone, and near water, will not be shunned by birds, 

 and in autumn affords too good an outlook not to 

 be constantly visited. Of course any tree simi- 

 larly situated will be equally acceptable to birds ; 

 but this matters not ; I have one huge persimmon 

 in mind that is peculiarly favored. Whether in 

 spring or autumn, as the tree's foliage is very late 

 in appearing and soon drops, there is the one 

 requirement of bare branches, and where these 

 are, there will the birds be. The cedar-birds con- 



