94 SHARP EYES 



Second. The five-leaved is harmless. 



Third. The poison-sumachs have white berries. 



Fourth. No red-berried sumach is poisonous. 



Both the poison-ivy and the poison-sumach, though 

 unlike in appearance of foliage, have similar white ber- 

 ries growing in small slender clusters from the axils of 

 the leaves. In all other sumachs the berries are red, 

 even in the other three- leaved species Rhus aromatica, 

 and in close bunches at the ends of the branches, and 

 far from being dangerous, yield a frosty- looking acid 

 which is most agreeable to the taste, and wholesome 

 withal. 



With these simple precepts fixed in the mind, no one 

 need fear the dangers of the thickets. But for the ben- 

 efit of that numerous class who " can't remember which 

 it is, whether the five-leaved or the three-leaved that 

 is poisonous," I would offer the following simple six- 

 line jingle, which may easily be committed to memory 

 and will prove an ever-ready guide in their walks: 



Berries red, 

 Have no dread ! 

 Berries white, 

 Poisonous sight! 

 Leaves three, 

 Quickly flee ! 



a perfectly safe mental talisman against danger. But 

 to which I may also add as a postscript, in considera- 

 tion of the one harmless three-leaved species, Rhus aro~ 

 matica, which is else under the ban : 



Leaves three, with berries red, 

 Fragr.ant sumach, have no dread. 



