Diospyros Kaki in North America. 79 



3Ir. Wilcox, of California — Dewberries have not succeeded in 

 Califcjrnia. Strawberries pay me better than any of the small 

 fruits. They will yield a paying return within twelve months after 

 planting. I have realized as high as $650 per acre from strawber- 

 I'ies. They average me something over $100 per acre. 



Mr. Agnew, of California — I have sold from nearly two acres of 

 strawberries $1,300 worth of fruit. The yield was 200 chests of 

 about eighty pounds each. 



President Earle — That would be equal to about 5,000 quarts 

 per acre, which is much less than some of our eastern growers pro- 

 duce. 



Mr. Gish, of California — My crop of the Longworth, which was 

 the seventh crop from planting, produced 57J cases per acre. 



Mr. Ohmer, of Ohio — I have produced as high as 175 bushels 

 of strawberries per acre. From four acres of Kittytinna blackber- 

 ries I produced 562 bushels of fruit. 



H. E. A^an Deman, U. S. Pomologist, read the following paper: 

 DIOSPYROS KAKI IN NORTH AMERICA. 



BY P^OF. H E. VAN DEMAN, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



So far as I have learned, the first trees of the Japanese persimmon {Dios- 

 pyros Kaki) grown in North America were from seeds obtained and sent by 

 Commodore Perry, of the United States navy, to Lieutenant Maury, in 1856, 

 and were planted at the Naval Observatory at Washington. The first fruit 

 was produced on these trees in 1860. None of these seedlings or any of 

 their progeny, so far as known, were distributed, and the old trees are now 

 dead. 



The next introduction of this species was by a lot of seeds im^wrted 

 from Japan by Mr. Wm. Saunders, of the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, in 1863. They were planted on the grounds of the department, and 

 germinated freely, and a part of the seedlings were sent out for trial. Some 

 of the original trees grew to bearing size, and in at least one case produced 

 about a bushel of fruit on a single tree, but all the older trees on the grounds 

 of the department are dead. Owing to the crude state of pomology in 

 Jdpan it was almost impossible to get grafted trees until about the year 1870, 

 when the Department of Agriculture imported a lot of gratted trees of 

 named varieties. Tnese were distributed all over the United States, but 

 principally in California and the gult states. The nomenclature of these 

 varieties was very imperfect, many trees being without name, some with 



