246 



The Journal of Heredity 



orange under certain local conditions, 

 especially on hill-top situations where 

 the available surface soil is apt to be 

 very thin. 



STOCK PLANTS 



For stock plants, Japanese growers 

 use the trifoliate orange almost ex- 

 clusively, on account of its hardiness 

 and the cheapness of the seed, for this 

 species is extensively planted in hedges 

 surrounding houses. Owing, however, 

 to its high susceptibility to citrus 

 canker, the farmers are having recourse 

 to other species as stock for grafting 

 navel oranges and other varieties of 

 sweet oranges. The sour orange, or 

 Seville orange, is also grown for its 

 juice and seeds. It furnishes a vine- 

 gar substitute, not as good as the 

 juice of the Yiizii. 



A half-wild pummelo, Yama-mikan, 

 resembling grapefruit more than any- 

 thing else, is also used as stock in the 

 southern part of Kyushu island, like 

 pummelo stock in this country. Re- 

 cently experiments have been made 

 with Rusk citrange at stations co- 

 operating with the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture. This stock, it is hoped, 

 will bring considerable improvement 

 in the propagation of orange trees in 

 Japan. 



THE KUMQUAT 



For preserA^ed or ornamental fruit 

 the kumquat is grown in various locali- 

 ties. This is a small fruit with sweet 

 peel and a pleasantly acid pulp. It 

 occurs in several varieties or forms, 

 such as the Marumi, or round kum- 

 quat, the Nagami, or oval kumquat, 

 and the Meiwa, or large round kum- 

 quat. Besides the kumquat the thick 

 rind of pummelos is also preserved in 

 sugar, making an excellent candy with 

 a flavor of its own. Sliced Satsuma 

 fruits candied in sugar are also ex- 

 tensively manufactured in southern 

 countries. They make an attractive 

 sweetmeat with a delicious flavor. The 

 dried peel is also used in the prepara- 

 tion of various kinds of drugs. Orange 

 peel and persimmon calyces are the 

 source of a celebrated tonic pill, 



extensively manufactured by proprie- 

 tary medicine corporations and con- 

 spicuously advertised on signboards 

 throughout the Orient. 



AN EARLY AGRICULTURAL EXPLORER 



Having enumerated the principal 

 citrus fruits grown in Japan, I turn now 

 to the question of how this remarkably 

 large number of varieties were intro- 

 duced into actual cultivation. The 

 first citrus fruits introduced into Japan 

 came from China or from some other 

 country of southern Asia. We have 

 two historical accounts of their intro- 

 duction. The most reliable, written 

 in the Kojiki, or Record, compiled by 

 Ono Yasumaro about 712 A. D., tells 

 of the famous expedition of Taji 

 Mamori, who was sent abroad by the 

 Emperor Suinin in the year 61 A. D. 

 and returned to Japan after an absence 

 of ten years, bringing back eight leafy 

 branches and eight leafless branches of 

 citrus fruits. When he arrived at the 

 imperial court he found that the 

 Emperor was no longer living, and in 

 his grief he took his own life, after 

 having presented at the Emperor's 

 tomb the fruits of his travels which 

 he had hoped to lay at his Sovereign's 

 feet. 



Nothing is known of Taji Mamori's 

 itinerary during his ten years of wan- 

 dering in southern Asia, and the 

 account of the fruit he brought back 

 with him is obscure. According to 

 the Nippongi, a chronicle compiled by 

 Toneri Shinno in the year 720 A. D., the 

 orange introduced by him was the 

 TacJiibana, the name of which was 

 supposed to be a modification of 

 Tajima-na, signifying "Named after 

 Tajima." This explanation, however, 

 is hardly possible; for the Tachibana, 

 now occasionally seen as a sacred plant 

 in the court yards of Shinto shrines, 

 grows spontaneously and abundantly 

 in southern Japan, w^here it appears to 

 be indigenous. The fruit of the 

 Tachibana is insignificant from an 

 economic point of view, and the tree 

 is of no importance except for the orna- 

 mental xaXue of its small bright yellow 

 fruit, which is too acid to be used for 



