134 



The joiRNAL OF Heredity 



from San Antonio, Texas, is promising; 

 and a third, a seedling at Glen Saint 

 Mary, Florida, is known to have pro- 

 duced staminate flowers each season for 

 three years. Through the efforts of 

 David Fairchild, whose hearty interest 

 and co-operation in the work has been 

 of the greatest help, a number of other 

 jjromising sorts have been secured from 

 China and Japan. In a few seasons 

 more, it will be known whether these 

 sorts can be depended upon to produce 

 staminate flowers abundantly e.vcry 

 time they bloom. 



Now, the question is not, "How does 

 Kaki behave in Japan or China? And 

 are pollinizers necessary there?" But 

 the question is, "How does it act in the 

 United States?" and to narrow it down 

 still further, "Is it fruitful in Florida, or 

 Georgia, or California?" Yes, and still 

 more, "How does it behave in a certain 

 county, on a certain farm, or in a cer- 

 tain dooryard'" And the answer must 

 be that while in some localities polliniz- 

 ers may not be necessary, under other 

 conditions the planting of them is an 

 absolute necessity, making, as it does, 

 the difference between success and fail- 

 ure in securing crops of fruit ; and in all 

 cases the presence of pollinizers is an 

 insurance against unfruitfulncss. 



BEHAVIOR VARIABLE. 



It must be emphasized that the be- 

 havior of D. Kaki in its relation to 

 pollinati(jn, or of any other fruit for the 

 matter of that, in any one locality, is 

 no index to its behavior under any other 

 set of conditions. Even though the 

 conditions may appear to be the same, 

 there are differences which we are too 

 dull to detect or too ignorant to under- 

 stand, but which nevertheless ojjerate 

 on the trees and influence the results. 

 It is a matter of observation that under 

 certain local seasonal and climatic con- 

 ditions some varieties of D. Kaki will 

 set good crops of fruit without pollina- 

 tion (seedless of course) while under 

 another set of conditions they do not 

 do so. One season they may l)loom 

 freel\- and set all the fruit the trees 

 should carry anfl with an equal amount 

 of l)lo()m in another season the same 

 trees mav bring no fruit to nial\n"il\'. 



To sum Ujj the conditicjns as the\' are at 

 present in the Lower South, and leased 

 on numerous observations extending 

 o\'er more than a decade, it is a fact 

 that trees of all varieties of D. Kaki, in 

 good health and which bloom under 

 normal weather conditions, can be de- 

 l^endcd upon to bear good crops if 

 jjollinated, and it is equally true (a few 

 \-arieties only excepted) that they will 

 not do so if pollen is not provided. In 

 the last two seasons it has been amply 

 demonstrated that all that is necessary 

 is to have staminate flowering trees in 

 proximity to the pistillate ones and 

 bees, wasps, flies and other insects will 

 take care of the problem according to 

 nature's own plan. 



POLLINATION NOT A CURE ALL. 



It must not be concluded, however, 

 from these remarks that pollen bearing 

 trees in a Japanese persimmon orchard 

 are a cure for each and every case of 

 unfruitfulncss. There are other factors 

 which enter into the problem of barren- 

 ness. The trees may not bear fruit be- 

 cause they arc unhealthy — they ma\' 

 be poorly nourished or they may be 

 suffering from attacks of insects, (the 

 flat headed borer, Dicera obscura, in 

 particular) or fungi or bacteria. Again 

 the trees may not even bloom, and the 

 forces which make for flower produc- 

 tion, intimatch' bound up as they are 

 with environmental ])rcssure on the 

 activities of the protoplasm, are not well 

 understood. But if the trees are in good 

 condition, not starved on the one hand, 

 and not forced into too vigorous and 

 succulent growth on the other, they can 

 usually be depended upon to bloom. 

 Even though the trees ma\' bloom ])ro- 

 fusely and both staminate and ])istillate 

 flowers are ])resent in the orchard, the 

 activity of insects, upon which i)ollina- 

 tion depends; may be grcath' restricted 

 or com])letely suppressed ]^>- untoward 

 weather conditions. High winds and 

 heavy rains combined make a condition 

 particularly unfa\-orable for successful 

 and satisfactory ])ollination, Ixith be- 

 cause the flowers or their essential parts 

 may be injured and because the insect 

 pollen carriers cannot work. 



Neither nnist it be exi)c>ele(l that 



