10 CIRCULAR NO. 110, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



propagated and distributed are valuable only as ornamentals. Our 

 subsequent introductions of seedling plants have not as yet given any 

 indication of flowering. Doubtless there are females among them. 

 Repeated efforts to get authentic female plants of good varieties from 

 China have been unsuccessful, owing to the difficulty of getting living 

 plants properly packed and shipped from the interior. In the Gar- 

 deners' Chronicle for July 31, 1909, is an account of the first flowering 

 of this species in Europe. The flowers borne in 1909 at Nice, France, 

 were also all males. It is therefore too early to predict anything as 

 to the probable behavior and value of the species from the fruit- 

 culture point of view. 



Reports have reached us that a specimen of this species has fruited 

 at Veitch & Sons' nurseries, near London, but no details have yet been 

 published, so far as the writer is aware, regarding the quality of 

 this fruit borne in England. 



These facts are much to be regretted, since from Mr. Wilson's 

 descriptions the fruit must be excellent. In his report of 1898 he 

 describes the plant as "fruiting abundantly, bearing fruits 1 to 2\ 

 inches long and 1 to If inches across (PI. II). Epicarp membranous, 

 russet brown, more or less clothed with villous hairs. Flesh green, of 

 most excellent flavor, to my palate akin to that of the common goose- 

 berry but tempered with a flavor peculiarly its own." 1 



Dr. Samuel Cochran, of Hope Hospital, Hwaiyuan, Anhwei, China, 

 in a letter dated September 26, 1911, writes : 



We find them delicious; they have something of the tart, rich flavor of the goose- 

 berry or strawberry. Not that the flavor is the same, but it has the same attractiveness, 

 being entirely free from mawkishness or insipidity. They make excellent preserves. 

 The flavor scarcely needs improvement. The fruit eats well raw after the skin is re- 

 moved, needing about as much sugar as strawberries. 



Rev. William F. Beaman, of Kiatingfu, near Yachow, has reported 

 orally to the writer that the flavor of this fruit varies remarkably, 

 some tasting like a pineapple and others like a strawberry, confirm- 

 ing in this respect the experience of Mr. Leigh Hunt respecting the 

 Korean species (probably Actinidia arguta) . According to Mr. Hunt, 

 who spent many years in northern Chosen (Korea), one could find on 

 the same vine fruits of a flavor to suit everyone's taste. 



Others have written enthusiastically of this fruit, and photographs 

 and alcoholic specimens show it to be one worthy of consideration. 

 The behavior of the plant solely as a climber warrants its wide distri- 

 bution, however, and it has already been taken up by at least one 

 American nursery firm. This species is not so hardy as the others 

 mentioned, being killed to the ground by severe freezes, but the 

 rapidity of its growth in the spring and the interesting character 



1 Wilson, E. H. In Seeds and plants imported during the period from January 1 to March 31, "1908: 

 Inventory No. 14, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 137, p. 14, No. 

 21781, 1909. 



[Cir. 110] 



