50 Fruits and Fruit- Trees. 



THE LOQUAT, OR "JAPANESE MEDLAR" 

 (Eriobotrya Japonica). 



LOQUATS are the beautiful little yellow fruits, the size of 

 plums, and usually four or five together in a loose cluster, 

 which we occasionally see in the shops, as an import from 

 Malta. The golden and downy skin, tinged with red, 

 seems to promise something that shall vie with the 

 apricot. The fleshy portion, however, is but scanty, being 

 the envelope only of one or two large stones five, 

 indeed, when all are perfected that it is possible for the 

 fruit to contain. The smallness of the quantity is com- 

 pensated by the flavour, which is agreeably sub-acid, 

 apple-like, and melting, and in good varieties, quite 

 luscious, while the odour is such as would tempt the 

 most delicate invalid. Besides being so good for dessert, 

 a very fine preserve may be made from this elegant fruit. 

 In the markets of Hyeres, Toulon, and other places in 

 the south of Europe, loquats are common. In England, 

 also, they might be raised as easily as indoor peaches. 

 Excellent little crops have often been obtained;* it needs 

 only that the cultivator shall combine for them, arti- 

 ficially, the climates of Malta and North China. There 

 are several varieties, some of them superior to the 

 ordinary Maltese, and these seem but to wait intro- 

 duction. The only real difficulty with any of the 

 kinds and this has been surmounted by the gardeners 



* As at Stawell House, Richmond, three or four years ago. 



