8 BULLETIN 1436, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
northern Georgia. Individual persimmon trees may be found on 
the uplands and in moist coves in the mountains, but the cost of 
removing them is not warranted. 
The Mexican persimmon (Diospyros texana, Scheel) of Texas 
and Mexico, generally only 12 to 15 feet high and 4 to 7 inches in 
diameter, is not of great commercial importance. It is abundant in 
western and southern Texas, and is very common in the region 
between the Sierra Madre Mountains and the coast of the Gulf of 
Mexico in Neuvo Leon and Tamaulipas, the two northeastern States 
of Mexico, where it reaches its largest size. 
The eastern persimmon (D. virginiana) is usually 30 to 50 feet 
high, and generally not more than 12 inches in diameter. In the 
primeval forest, under most favorable conditions, it sometimes 
reaches 100 to 115 feet, with a trunk clear of branches for TO to 
80 feet, and a diameter of 2 feet at breast height. Such a tree, rare 
in the open, is seen in Figure 5. 
In the open the persimmon tree develops a rather broad or flat- 
tened top covered with dark green, smooth, and shiny leaves. It 
is particularly attractive in the autumn when its bright orange- 
colored fruit shows in strong contrast to its green foliage. 
Many people know persimmon better for its fruit than for its 
wood. The fruit is yellowish brown, sweet, and luscious when fully 
ripe, but on account of an astringent property due to tannin it is not 
ordinarily edible without the action of frost except in the extreme 
South. A number of nurserymen sell seedling trees for ornamental 
planting as well as selected varieties for the production of fruit. 
The subject of persimmon propagation for fruit has been more 
thoroughly treated in another bulletin. 1 
THE ANNUAL CUT AND THE PRESENT SUPPLY 
DOGWOOD 
Figure 2 shows the estimated stand of flowering dogwood timber 
in cords for the States where it is available for commercial use. The 
estimate includes not every tree of dogwood in each of the States, 
but only the dogwood abundant enough to make cutting and market- 
ing profitable. What is omitted is so scattered as to be unmarket- 
able. This estimate is very rough and is based largely on a knowl- 
edge of the history of the cutting of dogwood, a knowledge of the 
forested areas of the States, the opinions of dogwood dealers of 
many years standing, and a knowledge of the present annual con- 
sumption of the material. 
The total stand of commercially available dogwood in the States 
given is estimated to be 231,000 cords. On the basis of the 1923 
consumption of 15,500 cords a year this would last approximately 
15 years. As the demand for dogwood is increasing yearly, however, 
the remaining stands are likely to be cut over sooner, except as 
annual growth may prolong the period to some degree. Although 
it is impossible to state to what extent annual growth will offset 
annual cut, it may safely be said that the annual cut of the best of 
the commercially available dogwood exceeds the annual growth of the 
same kind of material. 
1 Fuetcher, W. F. the native persimmox. U. S. Dept. Agr. Farm'. Bui. 685, 25 pp.. 
illus. October, 1915 ; revised September, 1923. 
