96 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



unfair to the turnip. Still as a Japanese friend of mine once 

 expressed it, " There is plenty of teething in these pears ; " and 

 this, doubtless is the great reason for the universal taste for 

 them among the people. If you will believe me even educated 

 Japanese persisted that they liked our pears best while they 

 were yet of flinty hardness, — before, to my taste, the flavor was 

 at all developed. You will not wonder that the apple was 

 generally preferred to such fruit ; but for the sake of the 

 reputation of our pears you will be glad to know that the 

 Japanese are slowly learning better when to eat them. 



An indigenous plum — probably Primus tonientosa — is of 

 some value. The fruit is small and purple, and hardly suited 

 for eating, but it makes excellent preserves. The stones are 

 collected in large quantities, and the young trees used for 

 budding with American sorts, which do well in Yesso. 



The wild mulberry — Moms alba, I think, but of the species 

 I do not feel sure, — is nearly everywhere abundant in Yesso. 

 The leaf is much collected and used for feedins; silkworms ; 

 and this species, which is perfectly hardy (while the Chinese 

 variety is not), is extensively propagated and planted for the 

 same purpose. The fruit is rather small, black, and very 

 delicious in flavor ; but it is not much used by the natives. 



In some parts of Yesso there is found a wild currant ( Ribes 

 Japonica) the fruit of which I have never seen. It is said to 

 be red ; but is not used so far as I know. The racemes of 

 flowers which I have seen are of remarkable length ; in the 

 dried specimens which I have here, the longest is fully seven 

 inches in length. Should it be found possible to cross this 

 species with our own, it would seem not unlikely that consider- 

 able improvement in this direction might be the result. In 

 Yesso, unfortunately, a very large proportion of the fruit of 

 this currant always blasted while very small. I have success- 

 fully imported this species and now have it alive in Amherst. 



Although not fruits in the ordinary sense of the word, I want 

 to allude to the Yesso hop and asparagus ( Humidus Japonicus 

 and Asparayus officinalis), both exceedingly abundant in many 

 places ; and both, I should think, promising, as a result of 

 variation which usually follows the cultivation of wild species, 



