66 Ajinals of Horticulture. 



every other species of plant under culture ; the varieties are 

 numerous and usually handsome. Owing to the length of the 

 voyage, cost of transportation and the difficulty of procuring 

 competent persons to make selections, importations are for 

 the most part confined to seed which, of course, does not re- 

 produce the varieties as seen there. The surest way to get 

 what they have that is desirable is to go there and make se- 

 lections as Fortune did. As an example of what we may yet 

 obtain from there, the Japanese maple may serve as an illustra- 

 tion. Perhaps there are 30 or 40 varieties cultivated here. 

 But a nurseryman at Oji, who grew them largely, told me that 

 he knew some four hundred varieties. Oji is a suburb on the 

 north of Tokio where the nurseries are noted for their collec- 

 tions of maples. Those mentioned, and camellias, azaleas, 

 flowering plums and cherries and some hardy palms {^Cham- 

 CETops excelsa and Rhapis flahelliformis'), together with a large 

 collection of miscellaneous kinds of less import, constitute the 

 stock of the nurseries. 



"The fruit trees, persimmons, pears and grapes, are 

 mostly propagated by the growers themselves. Each of these, 

 too, could contribute to our horticulture. There are already 

 many of the persimmons in America, but so far as I have learned 

 there are none that can stand the winters even in the central 

 states. There are a few kinds which are hardy in the north- 

 ern part of the main island which might extend the limit of 

 their culture here. Of their pears there is possibly but one 

 variety, the Kago or Mino, which would be considered worth 

 culture here by people in general, though they are all excel- 

 lent cooking pears ; but those which root freely from cuttings 

 would be desirable for stocks, especially the wild species {Fyrus 

 Ussurieiisis). As for Japanese grapes, they excel our native 

 varieties in all desirable points, and could they be established 

 here would become the leading grape of the country. There 

 is, however, a question of their success here, as they are un- 

 doubtedly of vinifera origin. 



"Following is a list of desirable trees and plants which 

 Japan can contribute to our horticulture. Some of them are 

 not new, but are still rare; others, and this is true of most of 

 the cultivated kinds, though known in a general way still have 

 many desirable varieties that are strangers to this country, and 

 still others I believe to be unknown to horticulture. 



