P ERS I MON. 
113 
seen the branches of stocks not more than 7 or 8 feet in height bent to 
the ground by their burthen. In the south it adheres to the branches long 
after the shedding of the leaf, and when it falls it is eagerly devoured by 
wild and domestic animals. In Virginia, the Carolinas, and the Western 
States, it is sometimes gathered up, pounded with bran, and formed into 
cakes which are dried in the oveh, and kept to make beer, for which pur- 
pose they are dissolved in warm water, with the addition of hops and lea- 
ven. It was long since found that brandy might be made from this fruit, 
by distilling the water, previously fermented, in which they had been brui- 
sed. This liquor is said to become good as it acquires age : but it will be 
impossible, to derive profit from the Persimon in these modes, and in the 
country where it is most abundant, a few farmers only employ its fruit occa- 
sionally for their households. The Apple Tree and the Peach Tree are 
far moré advantageous, as their growth is more rapid, and their produce 
more considerable. 
The trunk of the full-grown Persimon is covered with a deeply furrowed, 
blackish bark. The fresh sap is of a greenish color, which it preserves 
after it is seasoned, and the heart is brown, hard, compact, strong, and 
elastic ; I have been told, however, that it is liable to split. At Baltimore 
it is used by turners for large screws, and by tinmen for mallets. At Phi- 
ladelphia shoe-lasts are made of it equal to those of Beech, which is usu- 
ally preferred. In Carolina the negroes employ it for large wedges with 
which, aided by those of iron, they split the trunks of trees. I have been 
assured by coach makers in Charleston that they had employed it for the 
shafts for chaises, and found it preferable to the Ash and to every other spe- 
cies of wood except the Lance Wood of the West Indies, and that the dif- 
ficulty of procuring stocks of the proper size alone prevented it being more 
frequently applied to this use : in truth, though it is common in the woods, 
it is usually of inconsiderable dimensions. 
Such are the particulars with which I have become acquainted concern- 
ing the wood of the Persimon. Its properties! appear not to be distinctly 
ascertained nor generally recognised ; they are such, however, as to deserve 
the attention of persons whose object is a practical knowledge of the trees 
of the United States. 
I have heard it asserted by farmers in Virginia, that the grass is more 
vigorous beneath the Persimon than under any other tree, and this fact is 
attributed to the speedy decay of its leaves, which form an excellent 
manure. In an ancient periodical work printed at Philadelphia, I find that 
the English government, in the years 1762 and 1763, offered a premium of 
20 pounds sterling for every 50 pounds of gum collected from the Persimon 
in their American Colonies. They were doubtless misinformed on this sub- 
ject : a greenish gum, without taste or smell, exudes from the tree, but, in 
