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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



cipal islands, representing a stretch in latitude the equivalent of from 

 northern Maine to Florida. Altogether these explorations enabled 

 him to make a pretty correct judgment on the San Jose scale problem 

 in Japan. Japan is not especially a horticultural country. Her com- 

 paratively enormous population of 46,000,000 compels the growth of 

 cereals and other necessities of life wherever possible. Very little 

 land, therefore, is devoted to fruit raising, and fruits are considered 

 as luxuries. Nevertheless, practically every dwelling house in Japan 

 has a little dooryard or kitchen garden in which are single examples 

 of cheriy, plum, peach, persimmon and other trees. Furthermore, the 

 roadways and temple grounds and streets are lined with cherry and 



plum trees, . planted for 

 bloom and ornament and 

 not for fruit. There are 

 orchard districts in Japan 

 of limited extent. In 

 northern and central Japan 

 there are a few peach or- 

 chards and a few orchards 

 of native pears, and in 

 southern Japan, small or- 

 chards of orange, pomelo, 

 walnut and other fruits. 

 In old Japan the chief 

 deciduous fruit is a native 

 pear grown in small patches 

 of from a fraction of an acre 

 to two or three acres in ex- 

 tent. These are trained 

 low on overhead trellises, 

 and at a short distance look 

 like vineyards. There are 

 several districts where such 

 orchards occur in considerable numbers. These orchards are very 

 ancient, many of them having trees more than one hundred years 

 old. If the San Jose scale were native to Japan it would occur in 

 these pear orchards, the pear being one of the favorite food plants of 

 this scale insect. 



In northern Japan, including the island of Hokkaido, and the 

 northern end of the main island, Hondo, apple raising has been intro- 

 duced in modern times very much on the lines of this country. Prior 

 to the opening of Japan to foreign commerce and exploration, the 

 apple as an edible fruit was unknown in that country. The orchards 

 in northern Japan arc chiefly, therefore, of American origin and rep- 



Method of Training Old Pear Orchards in Japan 

 (height of trellis 5 feet). 



