114 
PERSIMON. 
several hundred experiments, I have not been able, by wounding the bark, 
to collect more than two scruples from a single stock. 
Breckel, in his History of North Carolina, says that the inner bark has 
been used with success in intermittent fevers. The fact remains to be ver- 
ified ; I have not had an opportunity of proving it by my own observations 
nor by authentic report, but it, is rendered in some degree probable by the 
extreme bitterness of the bark. 
The inhabitants of the Southern States have very properly preserved the 
Persimon in clearing the forests. Its fruit might, without doubt, be dou- 
bled in size by attentive cultivation. As the tree is dioecious, care must 
be taken to procure stocks of both sexes. The roots run to a great dis- 
tance, and produce a numerous family of sprouts. 
The Persimon grows perfectly well and even yields fruit in the climate of 
Paris ; but further south it would succeed still better. Its propagation may 
be recommended for the sake both of its fruit and ofiits wood. 
Observation. — Dr. B. S. Barton, Professor of Botany and Materia Medina 
in the University of Pennsylvania, believes the Persimon of the Southern 
States to be a distinct species from that of New Jersey. He grounds this 
opinion upon the fact that the leaves of the Virginia Persimon are one-half 
larger and slightly downy beneath, and the fruit one half smaller, with flat 
instead of convex stones. I am disposed to admit the distinction, but am 
not prepared to adopt it with confidence. I have always ascribed the dif- 
ference to climate, which, as we have had occasion to remark, has so extra- 
ordinary an influence on the development of other trees, that are common 
to different parts of the United States. I leave the difficulty, however, to 
be resolved by more accomplished botanists, simply observing that the two 
varieties are similar in their general appearance and in the properties of 
their wood and fruit. 
PLATE XCIII. 
A branch with leaves of the natural size. Fig. 1, Fruit of the natural size. 
Fig. 2, A seed. 
