240 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



that while it may be able to live on them, it causes 

 but little injury. The European vi7iifera varieties 

 are all, however, very susceptible, and to grow them 

 successfully where the Phylloxera occurs, they must 

 be grafted on roots of some resistant American kind. 

 This is now very widely done in both Europe and 

 California. None of the kinds usually grown at the 

 South are materially injured by this insect. 



The great number of leaf-eating grape insects can 

 all be more or less successfully controlled by the use 

 of Paris green, which is best applied in connection 

 with the Bordeaux-mixture sprays. 



Persimmons (^Diospyros). — The Japanese persim- 

 mon is another fruit of some importance that grows 

 well in nearly all parts of the South. It is of rather 

 recent introduction and so far has been slow in 

 finding a place in the markets. The demand for 

 it is, however, slowly increasing, and as it is of really 

 high quality and keeps and ships well it will doubt- 

 less ultimately become one of the important com- 

 mercial fruits. Tlie trees are not hardy at the 

 North, and they are sometimes injured in the South 

 by exceptionally cold winters or especially by late 

 cold snaps in the spring. Methods of cultivation 

 are much the same as for as the peach though much 

 less pruning is required. As the trees are slow 

 growers they may be set as close as twelve or fifteen 

 feet. There has been much confusion in regard to 

 varieties and varietal names. About a dozen kinds 

 are now in more or less general cultivation and can 

 be secured of the leading Southern nurseries. The 

 trees are sometimes injured by a serious blight, but 



