138 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



such tree. Does it grow anywhere about 

 here ?" 



" No. I believe not ; at least I never met 

 with it anywhere except in the Southern 

 States, beginning at Virginia and ending *a 

 Georgia. It is sometimes found of a good 

 size ; forty or fifty feet high, and a foot and a 

 half in diameter ; but in general it is so small 

 that it cannot properly be called any thing 

 more than a shrub. The flowers are small 

 and white, and grow in long strings ; collected 

 in bunches they look very pretty. The wood 

 is perfectly useless, but the sour leaves are 

 sometimes used in dying, when better materials 

 cannot be had : they yield a good black." 



" Uncle Philip, it seems very strange to me 

 that things of so many different tastes and 

 colours should all grow out of the same 

 ground ; some are sweet, and some sour, and 

 some bitter ; some have red flowers, and others 

 white ; I have heard and read that trees and 

 plants are nourished by the moisture that they 

 get from the ground ; but this moisture must 

 be the same, I suppose, everywhere, and I 

 cannot imagine how it turns into so many 

 different things." 



" Neither can I, my dear, nor any one else ; 



