FRUITS, WILD AND CULTIVATED 29 



fruits known as " Tao yi " are used in ripening persimmons. 

 The fruits of each are arranged in alternate layers in large jars 

 and covered with rice-husks, and in ten hours the persimmons 

 are bletted and fit for eating. The Docynia occurs sparingly in 

 western Szechuan, but in that locality the fruit is not utilized. 



The Loquat, " P'i-pa " {Eriobotrya japonica), both wild and 

 cultivated, occurs in quantity up to 4000 feet altitude, and is 

 most abundant in rocky places. This handsome evergreen 

 forms a tree 30 feet tall, and produces its fragrant white 

 flowers in the early winter, the fruit being ripe in April, 

 The fruit is orange-coloured, of a pleasant sub-acid flavour, 

 but there is very little "flesh" surrounding the large, soft 

 brown seeds, which have an almond-like taste and might be 

 used for flavouring purposes. 



In different parts of China various species of Hawthorn, 

 " Shan-li-hung-tzu " or " Shan-cha," are cultivated for their 

 fruits. In Hupeh the species thus favoured is Cratcegus 

 hupehensis ; orchards of this tree occur in the neighbourhood 

 of Hsingshan Hsien. The fruit is scarlet, nearly i inch in 

 diameter, but of insipid flavour. 



One of the most delicious of all fruits grown in China is the 

 Persimmon, " Tsze-tzu " {Diospyros kaki). The Persimmon 

 tree is abundant up to 4000 feet altitude, and usually forms 

 handsome specimens 60 feet or more tall. The fruit may be 

 ovoid or flattened-round, and with or without seeds. It is 

 not really edible until dead ripe, at which stage all the tannic 

 acid is dissipated or changed into sugar. The Chinese have 

 various methods of ripening this fruit to bring out its full 

 flavour. The process, in the main, consists in stratifying and 

 covering them with rice-husks and admitting only a modicum 

 of air. Persimmons are often allowed to remain on the trees 

 long after the leaves have fallen, and the masses of orange- 

 coloured fruits on such trees present a wonderful sight. 



In the neighbourhood Lu Chou are cultivated Litchis 

 {Nephelium Litchi) and Longans (A'', longana) as orchard 

 fruits. They thrive very well in this district, and the fruits 

 command high prices in the market. The Chinese Olive [Can- 

 arium album) is also grown in the same locality. In the arid 

 river valleys of the west the Chinese Date-plum, " T'sao-tzu " 



