212 Missisi^ippi Valley Horticultural Society. 



This Crowley's ridge is an exceeding fine fruit region. The pear esisecially 

 seems to thrive there wonderfully when compared with its very general fail- 

 ure every where West. 



Then wc have the whole northeastern part of the State almost a level 

 plain covered with heavy timber, except parts of three counties lying be- 

 tween the lower White and Arkansas rivers, with a soil on the uplands made 

 up of a very fine, clayey silt, finely adapted to nearly every kind of fruit in 

 its natural condition, and when thoroughly underdrained with tile will most 

 certainly be one of the finest fruit soils in the world. Easily cleared, and 

 easily tilled, without a rock or a pebble to interfere with the plow, hoe or 

 cultivator. The prairies are healthy, and exceedingly level, 3'et, generally, 

 with slope enough so as to be readily tile-drained. Nearly all fruits grow on 

 the better surface-drained portions of these prairies in great perfection and 

 abundance, with scarcely any care given them by the settlers, showing plainly 

 what could be done there with proper orchard cuture. 



The timber lands of this region are generally very much better surface 

 and under-drained than the prairies; therefore, the difierent fruits on them 

 do measureably better. But the timbered lands are very unhealthy, espe- 

 cially along the streams, to unacclimated people, particularly Northern peo- 

 ple : and as it costs about as much to free the land of trees, stumps and roots 

 as it would to under-drain the prairies, and considering the better health of 

 the prairies, they, the prairies, would be my choice, first, last and all the time. 

 Land is wonderfully cheap in all this region. It is not a corn nor a wheat 

 country, but nearly every other known crop does well, some of them giving 

 enormous crops. For instance, all the leguminous plants, such as peas and 

 beans, in all their species and varieties, sweet and Irish potatoes, vines of all 

 kinds, and the sorghums and millets. 



We are now ready to consider the persimmons. The native persimmon 

 {Diospyros Virglniann), grows plentifully all over the State, but in the hill 

 region it is not generallj^ found, except in the bottom lands along streams. But 

 in the more level portions of the State it abounds e very w'here, even on prairies, 

 and is, perhaps, the most plentiful of arboreal plants, except it be the sassafras 

 (S. officinale). It is found on all kinds of soils, from the wettest to the dryest, 

 but attains its maximum growth on the overflowed lands, on the margins of 

 rivers, where it may often be found two to three feet in diameter at its base, 

 and stretching upward as straight as an arrow, sixty to eighty feet, without a 

 branch, producing, irregularly, immense crops of large, luscious fruit, ripen- 

 ing from July on through the fall and winter, many varieties hanging on the 

 tree nearly the winter through. 



Strange as it may seem, I have found everywhere, where the persimmon 

 is plentifully indigenous, that the great majority of the people insist that this 

 fruit is not ripe nor edible until after frosts. While the reverse is true, 

 many of the finest varieties ripen, and are exceedingly luscious, early in 

 August. Our botany tells us that the flowers of the persimmon are "di- 

 tuciously polygamous," while the truth is, as I see it, they are monoecious, 



