Part 13

But the tree--that is a beauty all summer, with its shining leaves, oblong, pointed and almost of the magnolia shape. It will grace any situation, and is particularly one of the trees worth planting along highways, to relieve the monotony of too many maples, ashes, horse-chestnuts and the like, and to offer to the passer-by a tempting fruit of which he will surely not partake too freely when it is most attractive. I read that toward the Western limit of its range the persimmon, in Louisiana, Eastern Kansas and the Indian Territory, becomes another tree of the first magnitude, towering above a hundred feet. This would be well worth seeing!

There is another persimmon in the South, introduced from Japan, the fruits of which are sold on the fruit-stands of Philadelphia, Boston and New York. This, the "kaki" of Japan, is a small but business-like tree, not substantially hardy north of Georgia, which provides great quantities of its beautiful fruits, rich in coloring and sweet to the taste, and varying greatly in size and form in its different varieties. These 'simmons do not need the touch of frost, nor do they ever attain the fine, wild, high flavor of the frost-bitten Virginian fruits; the tree that bears them has none of the irregular beauty of our native persimmon, nor does it approach in size to that ornament of the countryside.

* * * * *

And now, in closing these sketches, I become most keenly sensible of their deficiencies. Purely random bits they are, coming from a busy man, and possessing the one merit of frankness. Deeply interested in trees, but lacking the time for continuous study, I have been turning my camera and my eyes upon the growths about me, asking questions, mentally recording what I could see, and, while thankful for the rest and the pleasure of the pursuit, always sorry not to go more fully into proper and scientific tree knowledge. At times my lack in this respect has made me ashamed to have written at all upon trees; but with full gratitude to the botanical explorers whose labors have made such superficial observations as mine possible, I venture to send forth these sketches, without pretension as to the statement of any new facts or features.

If anything I have here set down shall induce among those who have looked and read with me from nature's open book the desire to go more deeply into the fascinating tree lore that always awaits and inevitably rewards the effort, I shall cry heartily, "God-speed!"

Index

Illustrations are indicated by a prefixed asterisk (*). For botanical names, see page 239.

Acorn, beginning of, 27.

Alligator tree, 221.

Amelanchier, 205.

American trees in Europe, 133.

Apple blossoms, 75, 80.

Apple, beauty of fruiting branch, 91

Apple, Chinese flowering, 90.

Apple, Crab, 80.

Apple trees, fruiting, 93; in blossom, *81.

Apples, 73.

Apples, Ben Davis, Bellefleur, Baldwin, Early Harvest, Red Astrachan, 93; Rhode Island Greening, 76; Winesap, fruit, *75.

Apple orchard in winter, *78.

Apples, Crab, fruit-cluster, *73.

Apples, propagation of, 88.

Arnold Arboretum, 57, 89.

Aspen, American, 121.

Aspen, Large-toothed, 121.

Aspen, Trembling (poplar), 121.

Bailey, Prof. L. H., quoted, 125.

Balm of Gilead, 118.

Beech, American, *177, 178.