140 



482 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



thick, yellow, meaty, tender, and juicy, with but little fiber; flavor 

 sweet, aromatic, rich; quality good to very good. Season July 15 to 

 August 1 in Manatee County, Fla. 



The tree is described as of broad, spreading habit. 



While the variety has not yet been tested in Florida for a sufficient 

 time to determine its relative adaptability to the mango-growing 

 localities in that State, it is considered worthy of testing both for 

 home use and market where other sorts or seedlings succeed. 



The specimen illustrated on Plate XLVII was grown by Mr. J. T. 

 Pettigrew, Manatee, Fla. 



KAWAKAMI PERSIMMON. 

 [PLATE XLVII I.] 



The larger size and brighter color of the Japanese persimmons 

 have to some extent attracted the attention of southern fruit growers 

 away from the hardier though less conspicuous native species. In 

 recent years, however, a number of promising varieties of the more 

 widely distributed of our native species, Diospyros virginiana, have 

 been named and introduced. There has at the same time been a 

 general recognition of the desirability of growing hybrids of these 

 species in the hope of securing varieties hardier than the Japanese 

 and yielding larger and possibly less astringent fruits than the native 

 parent. One such appears to have resulted from an accidental cross 

 of the Yemon (synonym Among} on Josephine, on the grounds of 

 Prof. T. V. Munson, of Denison, Tex., about 1893. a Professor Mun- 

 son grew a large number of seedlings of Josephine from seeds of a 

 tree of that variety near which stood several trees of Yemon. From 

 among these he selected a number that showed thicker and more 

 pubescent twigs and larger leaves than their seed parent, resembling 

 in these respects the Japanese species. Some of these showed much 

 more strongly marked Japanese characteristics in tree and fruit than 

 does this one, which he named Kawakami in 1902, but he preferred 

 it to them because of its superior hardiness and vigor of growth as 

 well as its marked retention of the distinctive flavor of the Josephine, 

 which is considered superior to that of most of the Japanese varieties 

 known in this country. 



Professor Munson propagated the variety for dissemination about 

 1903, 1904. Its behavior thus far warrants the belief that it is con- 

 siderably hardier than any of the Japanese varieties yet tested in this 

 country and likely to succeed through a wide geographic range. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form roundish oblate, sometimes quadrangular; size medium to 

 large ; cavity regular, of medium size and depth, with gradual slope, 



a Letters of T. V. Munson, October 12, 1908, and April 2, 1909. 



