1900:] Fruit Culture in Japan 



whose treasures were being sold. There I secured 

 three ancient mirrors of poHshed steel, highly valued 

 before the ingenious West sent glass and quick- 

 silver to Japan. 



Farther on we tarried for a day at the little city of 

 Hachinohe and at Same, its port, a pretty watering 

 place near the northeast corner of Nippon. Here we 

 found much of scientific interest, but were soon on 

 the back track tow^ard Morioka and Sendai. From Anew 

 time to time along the road I saw evidence of the '"^"^''■y 

 spread of fruit culture, hitherto neglected in Japan. 

 Cherries, plums, peaches, and quinces had of course 

 long been cultivated for beauty, and by artificial 

 selection developed into numerous varieties bearing 

 exquisite flowers though little or no fruit, and not 

 much of food value. 



But we now noticed many excellent orchards of 

 apples and pears — especially about Morioka — and 

 the familiar Red Astrachan was already ripe. In the 

 new Agricultural College at Sapporo, various kinds 

 of northern fruits, largely Am.erican, were being 

 tested as to their fitness for Japanese conditions. In Luscious 

 the Kyoto region similar efforts had developed large -^^"''^ 

 and finely flavored peaches and plums, the best of 

 both having blood-red flesh. Widespread throughout 

 the country- was also an excellent native grape, slip- 

 skinned like the American species, and resembling the 

 Catawba in flavor. In the south, however, the chief 

 fruit was the deliciously acid loquat, locally known 

 as bizva, and a bitterish shaddock allied to our mis- 

 named "grapefruit." I was, however, strongly 

 impressed with the amount of waste land in northern 

 Japan — that is, districts not suited to rice, prac- 

 tically the only crop generally cultivated. Agriculture 



C 61 2 



