AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES. 87 



11. Primus /^;;/^;^/^i-^, Thunb., Jap. Isora mume. The felt-leaf 

 apricot-tree, as Lauche calls it/ is only a shrub with red fruit, look- 

 ing and tasting like cherries. I saw the fruit for sale in Waka- 

 yama, and often observed the shrub which it adorns in the neigh- 

 bourhood of dwellings in Kishiu. That the fruit of the Yama- 

 sakura (/^r. pseiido-cerasus, LindL), too, is eaten, as Siebold affirms, 

 and of the Man'-zaku {P. incisa^ Thunb.), as Kinch says, is un- 

 known to me. 



12. Zizyphus vulgaris^ Lam., var. inermis^ Bunge, Jap. Natsume 

 and Sanebuto-natsume. In the Kew collection, under the title Z. 

 injuba, Lamk., there are specimens from China, Japan, India, etc., 

 and seeds of this plant are said to have been found in an old 

 Roman amphora, in London, in 1864. In ancient times it was 

 widely grown in the civilized states of Asia. It is cultivated here 

 and there in Japan, though not to the same extent as in Corea. 

 Its trees grow unprotected to a height of 6 to 8 meters, blossoming 

 in June, and bearing in autumn. Its oval or elliptical fruit is the 

 size of olives, and has a yellow or reddish epidermis, which 

 encloses a tart-tasting flesh, that is either eaten raw, or put to a 

 medicinal use. In the northern provinces of China, where "jujubes " 

 are extensively cultivated, they are preserved in honey, in which 

 state they resemble dried dates in shape, colour, and taste, at least, 

 if not in size. Hence one finds them often spoken of as *' dates," 

 or '' Chinese dates," names which might easily occasion a mis- 

 apprehension. 



13. Hovenia dulcisy Thunb., Jap. Kempon-nashi. Kaempfer, who 

 gives a picture of a branch with leaves and fruit, compares this 

 tree, in passing, with a medium-sized pear-tree ("Am. Exot," 

 p. 808). It belongs to the same family as the preceding, but bears 

 a totally different fruit, in so far as its singularly fleshy, thickened 

 stems are concerned, though not the fruit itself. The sweet taste 

 of these stems reminds one somewhat of our pears, and is much 

 liked, especially by children. The tree flourishes quite well in the 

 warmer parts of Europe.^ 



14. Cormis officinalis, S. and Z. (C. sanguinea, Thunb., C. ignorata, 

 K. Koch.), Jap. Sanshio-nayu, is cultivated here and there for the 

 sake of its fruit. The big bushes, or little trees, which I found in 

 the summer of 1875 growing near mandarin oranges in Yamato, 

 reminded me forcibly of our common cornelian-cherry {C. mas, L.), 

 which is closely allied to the scarlet, egg-shaped stone-fruit. 



15. Elceagnus iimbellata, Thunb. [E. parvifolia, Royle), Jap. 

 Gumi. The umbelliferous olive, which is frequently found growing 

 wild in Japan, though also cultivated for decorative purposes, bears 

 a small, round, pink fruit, with a stone. Children especially are 

 very fond of its flesh. The same holds true, though perhaps not 



^ Lauche : " Dendrologie." Berlin, 1880, p. 643. 



2 See Philippe : " Sur I'Eucalyptus globulus et THovenia dulcis. Bull. Soc. 

 Accl ," ser. 2, i. p. 196 (1864). 



