KUMQUAT 



KUNZEA 



1759 



arise from the first growth in spring. There may be one 

 or two successive crops of bloom and settings of fruit. 

 The ripening of the fruit is therefore usually prolonged 

 over a period of several weeks or even months. The 

 fruit is small, either oval or round, orange in color, and 

 borne freely. 



The kumquats are among the most hardy of the 

 citrous fruits. In dormant condition they have with- 

 stood temperatures as low as 15 F. in the latitude of 

 north Florida without injury, and they have been 

 fruited in the open ground as far north- as Augusta, 

 Georgia. 



While the kumquat may be budded on any of the 

 stocks commonly used for other citrous fruits, most of 

 them are grown on Ponci^us (or Citrus) trifoliata, 

 rough lemon, and sweet orange stocks. When soil and 

 moisture conditions are suitable, Poncims trifoliata is 

 given the preference. It is a very hardy stock and well 

 adapted to the kumquat. For pot culture, when both 

 soil and moisture are under control, it is the best stock 

 to use. The ordinary shield method of budding is 

 used, and the young plants, being of shrubby growth 

 dp not require any special training such as must be 

 given other citrous trees. 



In orchard planting, the kumquats are usually placed 

 10 by 10 feet up to 15 by 15 feet apart. Sometimes they 

 are grown in hedges, the plants being set 6 feet apart in 

 the rows and the rows 15 feet apart. The same tillage 

 and fertilizing are required as for other citrous fruits. 

 Plant-food must be available in liberal amounts to 

 keep the fruits up to size, and fertilizers should be 

 applied in goodly amounts in late winter to produce a 

 strong growth in the first spring shoots. 



In the matter of pruning, kumquats are very much 

 benefited by rather severe cutting back of the twigs 

 of the previous season's growth in the winter months. . 

 Since the fruit is usually gathered with twigs attached, 

 the necessary pruning is given when the crop is har- 

 vested, but if the crop is light, additional pruning will 

 be necessary and should be directed toward thinning 

 out the shoots as well as cutting them back. Liberal 

 pruning well in advance of the starting of growth 

 increases both the size and quantity of fruit. 



Varieties. 



Up to this time three varieties have been introduced 

 into America, as already noted. A fourth variety, Omi, 

 is listed in Japanese catalogues, and there are doubtless 

 still other forms in China and Japan. 



Nagami. Oblong fruit 1J4 to 1% inches long, deep 

 orange in color; juice acid; rind sweet, spicy; seeds two 

 to five; season October and through the winter. Usually 

 begins to ripen two or three weeks later than Marumi. 



Neiwa. Fruit 1*4 to 1% inches in diameter, round, 

 orange-yellow; juice subacid ; rind sweet ; season earlier 

 than Nagami; prolific. A recent introduction. 



Marumi. Round; fruit 1 to 1J^ inches in diameter, 

 round, irregular in size; deep orange in color; juice acid; 

 rind sweet and spicy; seeds one to three; season October 

 and through the winter. The earliest variety to ripen. 



Nagami is usually considered the most desirable 

 variety, as it is more robust in growth and produces 

 fruit of uniform size. Marumi is very prone to produce 

 fruit that is small and very irregular in size. Nagami is 

 thornless, while Marumi has very short, sharp, slender 

 thorns. As a pot-plant, Marumi is valuable because 

 of its very compact symmetrical growth. 



Uses. 



Well-grown kumquat plants make handsome orna- 

 mentals, the combination of dark green foliage and 

 small golden fruit being very pleasing. They may be 

 used for hedges, planted singly or in groups. 



Large quantities of fruit are shipped for the holiday 

 trade. In gathering the fruit, it is clipped from the 

 plants with leaves and twigs attached and packed in 



strawberry baskets. There is also a good demand for 

 large sprays of fruit and leaves for decorative purposes. 

 When eaten raw, well-ripened kumquats have a 

 very agreeable combination of flavors. The outer rind 

 is spicy, the white inner rind is sweet and granular, 

 while the juice is acid. 



2047. The round kumquat. Fortunella japonica. ( X K) 



The fruit is coming into very general use for the 

 making of marmalade, jelly, preserved and crystallized 

 fruit. Marmalade made from kumquats is esteened by 

 many above the product made from other citrous fruits. 



H. HAROLD HUME. 



KUNZEA (Gustav Kunze, 1793-1851, German 

 botanist). Myrtacex. Australian shrubs, sometimes 

 grown in cool or temperate houses: often heath-like, 

 the small entire Ivs. mostly alternate: fls. small with 

 extending stamens, in the upper axils or in terminal 

 heads or in a spike below the end of the branch; 

 calyx with 5 small lobes; petals 5, spreading, small; 

 stamens many, free or in series, the filaments fili- 

 form; ovary 2-5-celled, 2 to many ovules in each cell. 

 The species are 15-20, allied to Callistemon, Lepto- 

 spermum, and formerly included in Metrosideros. The 

 cult, requirements of Callistemon (p. 630) will probably 

 suit them. K. pomifera, F. Muell., has been mentioned 

 as a fruit-plant (G.C. III. 5:201; copied in A.G. 1889: 

 127), Mueller saying that it is one of the few really 

 valuable fruit-plants indigenous at the south coast of 

 Austral. "The fruits are of a peculiar acidulous aro- 

 matic taste, and very extensively collected by people 

 settled on the coast for the purpose of jam-making." 

 It is described by Bentham as a rigid prostrate shrub: 

 Ivs. ovate, varying from nearly orbicular and almost 

 cordate to narrow and acute-based, mostly less than 



