126 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 
baskets in the water, no doubt with the certainty of 
stupefying or narcotizing a large number of fishes. Most 
of the larger fishes recover after a time from the influ- 
ences of the drug, but a great sacrifice of the smaller 
ones is occasioned by the process. It has been observed 
that the eel is the only fish that could not be intoxicated 
with a common dose. 
Experiments have demonstrated the power of this 
drug, in large doses, to produce prompt paralysis of the 
motor nerves, while it does not affect the seat of intel- 
ligence nor the great centres of innervation. 
THE DATE-PLUM PERSIMMON.—PERSIMMON. 
The persimmon-tree usually reaches the height of 
from fifty to sixty feet, and from twenty to twenty-four 
inches in diameter. The leaves are about five inches 
long and pointed, of a beautiful dark bottle-green, with 
a glossy face and glaucous underneath ; the bark is very 
rough, the limbs and branches crooked and twisted. 
This tree usually has a conical and rather open top; its 
fruit varies in shape and in time of ripening, and is best 
if ripened before frost, and not, as most people suppose, 
after frost. Frost removes the astringency of the per- 
simmon, but at the same time spoils it if it has not 
reached a certain stage of maturity. The wood of the 
persimmon is hard, heavy, and of a very fine grain, and 
is much used in place of ash as axle-trees for carriages 
and wagons, but its principal use is for carving. Keep 
the seed moist, and plant in the seed-bed until one year 
old, then transplant. 
THE MULBERRY.—RED MULBERRY. 
This tree is found east of the Mississippi River, and 
reaches a height of from seventy to eighty feet. While 
in its young state it makes very rapid progress, but after 
it has reached a few inches in diameter it seems to fall 
back, and becomes of much slower growth. Its timber 
