16 CIRCULAR NO. 120, BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



Hybridization and grafting work has been done on the peach, phim, 

 persimmon, and grape. Successful crosses between the native Primus 

 texana and the peach and phmi have been made. The grafting of 

 the better types of grapes on the native mustang grape has been 

 done successfully (fig. 6). Some attention is also being given to 

 grafting the English walnut on the native black walnut. 



PERSIMMONS. 



The prof)agation of persimmons has been tried, a special effort 

 being made to utilize as a stock the native Texas persimmon {Dios- 

 pyros texana), which grows so abundantly and persist entl}' on the 

 semiarid lands of western Texas and in the limestone canyons. This 

 tree has long been regarded as a probable stock for the Japanese 

 persimmon, but until recently it was impossible to produce a union. 

 Successful results have lately been accomplished by inarching with 

 Diosjyyros texana seedlings small enough to be handled in pots. In 

 this method of inarching, the small native seedling is transferred to 

 a paper pot after most of the soil has been removed from the roots, 

 and the pot is filled with sphagnum. It is necessary that the pots 

 be small and light, for under normal summer conditions the wind 

 would prevent securely fastening a heavy pot in position long enough 

 to permit the formation of a union. The stock and scion will com- 

 monly unite in about 30 days, but as the persimmon gi'ows rather 

 slowly even more time is desirable. Until this method was devised, 

 no successful Dlospyros kali-i plants had been produced on I), texana 

 stock. A few crown grafts were made to start, but no others. 

 Budding has been attempted repeatedly by shield, patch, flute, and 

 ring methods, with no success whatever. The following combina- 

 tions have been successfully accomplished here by the inarch method 

 described : 



D. kaki on D. texana stock. 



D. virginiana on D. texana stock. 



D. texana on D. kaki stock. 



D. texana on D. virginiana stock. 



A small planting of varieties of Japanese persimmons worked on 

 the native stock is to be made under dry-land conditions as soon as 

 the trees can be propagated. Several have already been set to orchard 

 positions. As most species of the Japanese persimmon suffer froui 

 chlorosis on the soils of the San Antonio region, it is believed that 

 the use of this resistant stock may be a remedv for this trouble unless 

 the scion proves to rapidly outgrow the stock. 



[Cir. 120] 



