944 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
August , 
American Date or Persimmon. 
The persimmon tree (Diospyros Virginiana) is 
a native of this country, having its northern lim¬ 
its near the parallel of New-York City, and in¬ 
creasing in numbers southward until it reaches 
the Gulf States. It is particularly at home in 
Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas, where it 
soon gets a foothold upon the exhausted lands 
which are turned out as unfit for tillage. Both 
birds and oppossums contribute to scatter seeds 
of the ripe fruit, which soon spring up in these 
deserted wastes and grow unmolested. 
Until quite recently, no attempts have been made 
to improve the fruit by cultivation, it being sup¬ 
posed that nothing but/cosi pould convert the hard, 
astringent, and unpalatable persimmon, into the 
luscious fruit it is after a few hard frosts. Late 
experiments, however, have proved that good cul¬ 
ture w'ill very much increase the size of the fruit, 
as well as the productiveness of the tree, besides 
reducing the number of seeds and improving the 
flavor of the pulp. 
To raise them successfully, obtain the seeds in 
Autumn, as soon as the fruit is mellowed by 
frosts, plant them one inch deep, in moderately 
dry soil, or put in boxes of eartb, to be planted 
in the Spring. They are afterwards thinned 
out, or transplanted and suffered to grow without 
grafting or budding. They come into bearing 
quite young, and produce abundant crops which 
will amply repay the little labor required in their 
cultivation. An intelligent correspondent who 
was formerly engaged in the N. Y. State Geo¬ 
logical Survey, and who has spent much time at 
the South, furnishes the following for the Agricul¬ 
turist : 
Having spent several years in the interior of 
North Carolina, my attention was repeatedly di¬ 
rected to the variation in size of this fruit, and I 
set about solving the mystery. One day while 
crossing the fields among trees loaded down with 
the rich persimmons well ripened by the previous 
frosts, I noticed one tree upon which the plums 
were very much larger than any of the others, and 
of a more delicious flavor, with but few seeds of 
a small size. Upon looking for the cause, I had 
little difficulty in recognizing the decayed frag¬ 
ments of a former dwelling, and from the crum¬ 
bling remains of the chimney stack arose this 
thrifty tree. This suggested the idea of apply¬ 
ing lime to the trees of this hitherto neglected 
fruit. After much persuasion I finally induced a 
wealthy planter to try the experiment upon some 
of his young trees. From a neighboring lime¬ 
kiln several barrels of the material were obtained, 
and having loosened the soil about the trees, a 
free application of the lime was given them, and 
from that time the trees rapidly improved in size, 
and productiveness, and the fruit attained to near¬ 
ly the size of a medium apple. It may not be 
generally known to those residing at the North, 
who have only seen this fruit in small quantities, 
that a large amount of choice beverage is pressed 
from the ripe plums, in some portions ofthe South. 
During the Winter season when there is little to 
do on the plantations, the negroes collect the 
fruit, mash or bruise it and pour on hot water, 
straining through straw into a barrel. After fer¬ 
menting a few days it is ready for their master’s 
table. By distillation, nearly pure alcohol is ob¬ 
tained from it. A barrel of this “ persimmon 
beer,” as it is there called, was at one time made 
where I was stopping, and forgotten for a month 
or two, when it was found to very much resem¬ 
ble uncorked champaign. Putting up a quantity 
of it with six or eight raisins to each bottle, I 
corked them tightly and laid them away for a 
few months, when the resemblance to French 
imported wines was so close as to deceive those 
experienced in wines. J. E. 
•- *0-4 -—i<S»- en»» —• — 
To Preserve Cut Flowers. 
In gathering flowers for vases, or hand bouquets, 
it is better to use a sharp knife than a pair of 
scissors, as the latter injure the tubes of the 
stems, which prevents their free absorption of 
water. They should, if possible, be gathered in 
the morning, before the dew has dried off them. 
The old method of simply renewing the water 
in the vase daily, cutting off a small slice of the 
stems at each renewal, is not to be discarded. 
Setting the vases out in the dew by night is also 
recommended. Covering them with a bell-glass 
shade is important, if they are kept by night in 
the house. When the flowers droop a little, a few 
drops of camphor in the water will often revive 
them. 
We have for many years past preserved flowers 
in hanging vases for several days, by filling the 
vases with wet moss or sand, and inserting the 
stems in it. It has seemed to us that they pre¬ 
ferred this moderate amount of moisture to being 
flooded with water itself. 
In the Gardener’s Monthly, we find a good de¬ 
vice for the same end, which we have transferred 
and re-engraved. It is a circular tin box, two 
inches deep, and one and a half inches wide. The 
diameter of the whole box is about 15 inches. It 
is designed to be filled with water, or sand, or 
moss, and the flowers to be set in it, making a 
sort of wreath. A lamp, or statuette may be 
placed in the center. The tin box may be painted 
green. 
Perennial Flowers.—Sow Seed How. 
Many of the biennial and perennial flowering 
plants, such as foxglove, sweet William, cam¬ 
panulas, pansies, daisies, pinks, rocket, hollyhocks, 
etc., are now ripening their seed. If this seed 
be sown immediately, they will flower next sea¬ 
son. When dried and sown in the Spring, they 
are not as certain to germinate, and not expect¬ 
ed to flower until next season, so that a gain 
of one year in time will be secured in sowing 
now. 
Select a favorable spot, manure and spade 
deeply, raking off smoothly, and sow immediate¬ 
ly, before the surface soil becomes dry. If there 
is no rain for a few days, give a thorough wa¬ 
tering in the evening, and in a very short time 
the plants will show themselves. They will, of 
course, require hoeing, and a moderate thin¬ 
ning. Late in the season it will be well to 
cover the bed with evergreen brush or straw, 
which will serve as a partial protection, and 
cause them to come out fresh and strong in 
the Spring, when they should be early trans¬ 
planted to permanent situations. 
A small bed will serve for all the varieties to 
be sown now, as they may grow somewhat 
thickly until Spring, and a row or two of each 
kind will afford abundant sets for transplanting. 
--—aa^ gp- - » ^ 
An infant child of a Mr. Balch, in Methuen, 
Mass., was found hanging by the neck between 
the foot-board and the bed-rail, having slipped 
out of the bed unobserved, and remained there 
until life was extinct. 
*0-4 -—aOtBi —- - — 
Fruits in Glass Bottles. 
The glass bottles described last month, we have 
used for strawberries and cherries, and the fruit 
keeps admirably so far, that is when it was 
scalded through before sealing. Some strawber¬ 
ries were put into the bottles uncooked, hot syrup 
being simply poured in and the bottles corked and 
scalded. A part of these berries fermented. We 
now put the fruit with the sugar into a large ves¬ 
sel, cook it just enough to heat it through, then 
dip it into the bottles and put in the corks previ¬ 
ously softened in hot water. The top is wiped, 
and after standing two minutes to dry, the ce¬ 
ment, (1 oz. tallow to 1 lb. resin) is poured on. 
The cement is made to adhere firmly to the glass 
by running a hot iron around the top of the bot¬ 
tle, which prevents air or steam bubbles. Every 
part of the string around the cork should be cov¬ 
ered well with wax, or air will enter along the 
fibres of the string. We have received the fol¬ 
lowing communication : 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
I have been experimenting somewhat with 
fruits and glass bottles, and thus detail my expe¬ 
rience, thinking I may save some of the Agricul¬ 
turist readers from wasting their fruits as I have 
done. I procured some of Yeomans’ fruit bottles, 
such as you described last month, and proceeded 
to put up some strawberries. Instead of follow¬ 
ing your directions in the July Agriculturist, I 
listened to the suggestions of a friend who as¬ 
sured me he had kept the various fruits with no 
other cooking than pouring hot syrup upon the 
fruit while in the bottle, and immediately cork¬ 
ing, and sealing them. I placed fine fresh straw¬ 
berries in the bottles and put them in a stove 
oven for a few minutes, so that they would not 
be cracked by the hot liquid I then poured upon 
them a hoiling syrup, made of one pound of white 
sugar to a pint of water, and corked and sealed as 
directed. This was done at night, and upon ex¬ 
amining them the next morning, I found one or 
two bottles with the cement cracked from one 
side and some air had doubtless entered. I re¬ 
sealed them and set them away. Looking at 
them about a week after, I found they had all 
“worked ” and thrown the corks out, and were 
so near like vinegar that I threw away the ber¬ 
ries and bottled the liquor for wine. An acquaint¬ 
ance of mine tried them with no better success. 
Going to the cellar to look at his bottles, he found 
them minus the corks, nor could he discover who 
had been uncorking his fruit, until he looked up 
to the ceiling and there found the corks sticking 
by the soft cement. 
Thinking it move my fault than any defect of 
the bottles, I tried the second time, resolved now 
to follow more closely your directions, but still dis¬ 
posed to take a little liberty. I cooked the fruit 
for a few minutes in its own juice and, s-ay about 
one half pound of sugar to a pound of berries. I 
filled the bottles as before, corked and cemented, 
and, to make doubly sure against air from the 
outside and any internal pressure, I tied some 
cotton cloth firmly over the cement and covered 
it with the melted wax. They have been put up 
three weeks, and look as though they would keep. 
I have also put up a quantity of rhubarb in the 
same manner as the strawberries, and it appears 
to be keeping well. I shall try no more fruit oi 
vegetables without some cooking, and I find 
much care is required to keep out air during the 
cooling, and consequent shrinking of the contents. 
Brooklyn , July 5. John. 
