THE KAKI, or CHINESE DATE PLUM, or 

 KEG-FIG OF JAPAN, or JAPANESE PERSIMON. 



Diospyros Kaki Lin. EBENACEAE. 



Maltese Kaki- Italian =Kaki. French=A^z^/ du Japon, Plaqueminier. 



The Kaki is a deciduous tree which grows to the 

 size of an orange tree, with alternate, ovate lanceolate 

 foliage of a dull green colour, more or less pubescent on 

 both sides, but chiefly on the under surface. The tree 

 thrives well in deep loamy soils, and does better in half- 

 shaded situations than in full sunshine. The cream- 

 coloured rotate flowers with a four-lobed persistent calyx, 

 are produced in spring, singly or in pairs in the axils of 

 the leaves, and the fruit which is a large, many-seeded 

 berry, matures in autumn, its colour varying from deep 

 yellow to. scarlet and deep blood-red or purplish red. 

 The tree is native of China and Japan, but is now 

 cultivated in many other countries. 



The tree is propagated by seed or by budding or 

 grafting on own seedlings or on seedlings of Diospyros 

 virginiana which is the Virginian Date-plum or Persimon 

 (often written Persimmon), or on seedlings of Diospyros 

 Lotus, the European Date-plum, this last being the pre- 

 ferred stock with European nurserymen. The seeds of 

 the Kaki may be stratified with sandy leaf-mould to 

 preserve better their germinating power, but usually 

 germinate fairly well if preserved in the ordinary way by 

 keeping them dry in a paper packet. The seed is sown 

 in March, and the seedlings when they are at least one 

 year old, are transplanted to the nursery at a distance of 

 about half a metre apart. This operation may be done 

 throughout the winter, the best period being towards the 

 close of February or early in March just before the buds 

 begin to swell. The seedlings take six or eight years 

 to fruit, and many of them usually turn out worthless 



