PERSIMMON. 289 



wooden dibber is used having an incurved or reversed wedge- 

 shaped point, with which the cuttings are crowded through the 

 sand down into contact with the bog beneath at one operation, 

 without first making a hole as is customary in the ordinary 

 use of a dibber. After the cuttings are planted the water should 

 be raised in the trenches sufficiently to keep the surface land a 

 little moist to encourage the rooting of the cuttings. The after- 

 cultivation consists in keeping the soil moist and giving clean 

 cultivation. Some of the best cranberry growers apply each 

 year a coat of about one inch of sand to their bogs and find that 

 it is profitable to do so as it acts much like a fertilizer. 



Picking. If the berries are allowed to fully ripen on the 

 vine they will keep much better than if picked earlier, but 

 where there is danger of frost before they are ripe the berries 

 should be picked as soon as they commence to color, though 

 when picked so early, they will seldom keep well after the mid- 

 dle of January. If severely frozen the berries are ruined, but 

 they are not injured by a "white frost." Picking is generally 

 done by hand, though some few growers "rake" them off the 

 vines. The berries keep well in a dry, cool place, and are more 

 easily kept if covered with water. 



The Persimmon. 



There are two distinct forms of the persimmon in cultiva- 

 tion, which are commonly known as the Native or American 

 persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) and the Asiatic species 

 (Diospyros Tcaki) which has been chiefly developed under cul- 

 tivation in Japan, and is known commonly in America as the 

 Japanese persimmon. The wood of most of the species of this 

 tree is hard, close-grained and takes a light polish. Some of 

 the tropical species give us the ebony of commerce. 



The native persimmon is found growing wild in the South- 

 ern states and as far north as latitude 38, that is, to central 

 Indiana. The tree, when grown in the forest, is sometimes 75 

 feet high but usually 20 to 30 feet high. It will ripen its fruit 

 as far north as northern Indiana. Its use is largely local, al- 

 though it is occasionally offered in the larger markets. The 

 wild fruit varies in size from one-half to two inches in diameter, 

 depending largely upon the number of seeds it contains. Seed- 



