XV. 



A POMOLOGICAL ALLIANCE.' 



SKETCH OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AMERICAN 

 AND EASTERN ASIAN FRUITS. 



The fact must have struck every thoughtful horti- 

 culturist that Japan is now the most prolific source of 

 profitable new types of fruits and hardy ornamental 

 plants. The recent extension of communication with 

 that country explains the introduction of these plants, 

 but it does not account for the almost uniform success 

 which attends their cultivation in this country. There 

 must be some striking similarity between the climates 

 and other conditions of Japan and America, to enable 

 plants from the very antipodes to thrive at once upon 

 their introduction here. It is well known amongst nat- 

 uralists that this similarity in climate exists, and that, 

 therefore, there is general accord in the fauna and flora 

 of Japan and eastern America; and that the origin of 

 this resemblance was most strikingly explained by the 

 late Asa Gray, Professor of Botany in Harvard Univer- 

 sity, as long ago as 1859. But this relationship of 

 Japan and America, with the practical deductions whic^h 

 follow an understanding of it, has never been presented 

 in its horticultural aspects. 



Before proceeding to a discussion of Gray's argu- 



1 Yearbook of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1894, 437. 



(267) 



