AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 



3. Pyrus Cydonia, L. {Cydonia vulgaris, Pers.). The quince, 

 Jap. Marumero, was introduced by the Portuguese, and is found 

 scattered all over Japan, planted about houses, though not fre- 

 quent. 



4. Cydo7iia sinensis, Thouin {Pyi'us cJiinensis, Poir.). The Chinese 

 quince, Jap. Kuwarin, is likewise grown here and there. Its fruit 

 is smaller than that of the former variety, and is made into pre- 

 serve. The product oi P. japonica, Thunb., a nearly related native 

 sort, is scarcely used at all and cannot be looked upon as fruit. 



5. Eriobotiya japonica, Lindl. {Mespihis japonica, Thunb., PJio- 

 tinia japonica, Fr. and Sav.). The Japanese name for the plant 

 and its product is Biwa, Chin. Lu-kuh, Engl. Loquat, French 

 Bibasier, Nefles du Japon, Span. Nispero de Japon. In Japan, 

 China, and Corea, this peculiar, beautiful variety of fruit is esteemed 

 as the first crop of the new year and has been cultivated from 

 early times, though not extensively. I have, for example, only seen 

 scattered trees near peasants' dwellings in Japan, and never large 

 orchards.^ In the more central parts of Japan the fruit does not 

 mature before June ; as a rule, however, it is plucked by the 

 bushelful before that time and put away (with some of the leaves, 

 to the detriment of its flavour), to get ripe afterwards. 



The fact that Kaempfer in his day mentions the presence of the 

 Loquat in Java leads to the conclusion that long ago it was spread 

 all over Eastern Asia. In ly^j Sir Joseph Banks brought it to 

 England. Since then it has been introduced into almost all warm 

 countries, e.g., most of the English colonies, the whole Mediter- 

 ranean region, and the West Indies, for it recommends itself, 

 equally for ornament and fruit, and also for its easy cultivation and 

 quick growth. 



It is a tall bush or small tree, making a pleasing and stately 

 appearance with its large leaved evergreen foliage and still more so 

 when covered with white bunches of blossoms or a wealth of yellow 

 fruit. It begins to bear in the third year, producing abundantly 

 between the sixth and tenth ; flourishes in a light soil, and has 

 withstood — 9° C. of cold on the Riviera and by the lakes of 

 Northern Italy, when many native fruit-trees perished. It is easily 

 propagated, by means of cuttings or seeds. In the Bermudas, 

 whither the Biwa was brought from Malta forty-five years ago, 

 I found ripe fruit on March 3rd, in Malaga on April 7th, in 

 Gibraltar on April 14th. But May and the beginning of June are 

 the proper season of maturity in most Mediterranean countries, as 

 for example, in Seville, where long rows of large fine bushes can 

 be seen in the garden of the Duke of Montpensier. Not only in 



^ It'also seems to me very doubtful whether Eriobotrya was derived from 

 Japan and not rather transplanted thither from China in very early times, and 

 then allowed to go wild in different localities, although the authors of works on 

 Japanese flora, from Kaempfer and Thunberg on, call it indigenous. I myself 

 have never found it except under cultivation. 



