lOC^ WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCTETT. [1892. 



varieties come into our markets they will constitute a valuable 

 addition to their resources. 



For the persimmon I have only words of the warmest praise. 

 There are many varieties differing much from each other in size, 

 shape and texture, and many of them when properly ripened 

 are very delicious. My favorite variety is oblate in form and 

 about as large on the average as the greening apple. The skin 

 is of an orange yellow color, the flesh of about the texture of 

 the muskmelon, though a little firmer v/hen in perfection for 

 my taste ; and there are no seeds. Other varieties are much 

 larger, oblong in form- and the flesh more like jelly in con- 

 sistency. Still others, and this is the only variety I have 

 myself eaten here, are scarcely half the size of the first and 

 oblong in shape. The tree as I have seen it somewhat resem- 

 bles the apple-tree in size and habit of growth, though branch- 

 ing much less densely. Like the apple here, this fruit is to be 

 seen everywhere in southern Japan, not often in regular 

 orchards, but a few trees straggling about the buildings or by 

 the roads and fences and not apparently better cared for than 

 the apple under similar circumstances here. In the last report 

 of our Secretary of Agriculture, I notice he expresses the hope 

 that varieties of the Japanese persimmon will yet be cultivated 

 everywhere in our country. In view of the fact that the 

 Japanese have never succeeded in producing varieties to with- 

 stand the severity of the climate in the northern part of their 

 own country, although naturally very desirous of doing so, I 

 think the possibilities of this may well be doubted. Rein says 

 that in Japan the tree endures night temperatures of about ten 

 to three degrees above zero Fahrenheit. Trees imported by 

 myself from the northern limit of the cultivation of this fruit 

 in Japan have winter-killed to the roots every year. 



Of the other fruits of Southern Japan I can say little in praise 

 based upon personal conviction. The loquat (Jap. biiva), 

 Eriobotrya japonica^ is highly praised by many and is esteemed 

 one of the best of fruits by the Japanese. It is of a beautiful 

 appearance, produced in clusters of bright yellow berries about 

 as large as cherries. The seeds are large and there is but little 

 flesh, which has an acid taste and little aroma. The plant is a 



