436 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



ripe until after very heavy frosts, and we usually gathered it 

 after the first snow storm. The trees bore biennially, and were 

 at least eight to ten years old before they came into bearing. 



In eastern Kansas ( Wyandotte and Bourbon counties, par- 

 ticularly), and generally in western Missouri, I have gathered an 

 abundance of good persimmons, always after heavy frosts. The 

 trees in that section bore at an earlier age than in the East, but 

 otherwise I could see no difference between the fruits of those 

 and the eastern trees, except that the eastern trees were on 

 uplands, and those in the West mostly on low lands. 



Here, in Georgia, the conditions are different. The trees grow 

 everywhere, bear immense crops biennially, and ripen from Sep- 

 tember 1 to February 1 ; that is, we have trees whose fruits ripen 

 early, and others that are not fit to eat until after frost ; some not 

 good at all. I ate my first persimmons this season September 1, 

 and three weeks afterwards the fruit on that tree was all gone. 

 I had very fair persimmons January 15, from trees whose fruits 

 were unfit to eat December 15. I know of three small trees (in 

 a clump) some fifty miles from here, whose earliest fruits ripen 

 in October, and the latest can be kept until December 20. The 

 fruits are as large as a small Mandarin orange, three to five seeds, 

 sweet, melting and juicy, no pungency whatever, and comparable 

 in lusciousness with a ripe Seckel pear. I have hunted over hun- 

 dreds of square miles and examined thousands of persimmon 

 trees, but have never found the equal of these fruits for size, early 

 and continuous ripening and lusciousness, nor have I seen 

 anything anywhere to compare with them in size, and only one 

 tree whose fruits are as fine-flavored. I esteem them more 

 highly than the Japanese persimmon as it is produced here. 

 They are superior in every way except in size. 



What' we call (in the family) the " premium tree" is growing 

 about three miles from here, and we have been making weekly 

 visits to it from early in October until late in December. The 

 fruit from this tree is about the size of a small black walnut, 

 deep yellow with a blush on the sunny side, a down or bloom 

 similar to some plums; sweet, juicy, rich, melting, with no pun- 

 gency, and mostly only three seeds. 



Some trees here bear fruits no larger than a good -sized 

 cherry. On some the outer skin turns black when the fruit is 



