PERSIMMONS— PERSIMMON DISEASES 



1681 



improved native and Japanese varieties 

 are being grown at several other stations. 

 A number of persimmon orchards have 

 also been planted in different parts of 

 the country. The following information 

 regarding persimmons is compiled from 

 bulletins of the Indiana and Tennessee 

 stations. 



The persimmon grows wild in nearly 

 all the Southern states and as far north 

 as Rhode Island and the Great Lakes. 

 The trees when grown in the open are 

 usually less than 40 feet in height. In 

 forests however, they often attain a 

 height of 60 feet or more with a trunk 

 diameter of two or three feet. They are 

 very long lived. According to the In- 

 diana station, the opinion held by some 

 that a male or nonbearing tree is needed 

 to fertilize the blossoms of the fruitful 

 tree is erroneous; both sterile and fertile 

 flowers appear on the fertile tree. Occa- 

 sionally, however, trees are found which 

 do not bear fertile flowers, and of course 

 are worthless so far as the production of 

 fruit is concerned. These trees, however, 

 produce more honey, or nectar, than the 

 fertile ones, as shown by the much 

 greater number of honey-bees which visit 

 these in comparison with the fertile trees. 



The fruit in the green or partly ripe 

 state is intensely astringent (puckery) 

 to the taste, but usually loses this prop- 

 erty on ripening. It varies in size from 

 one-half inch to two inches in diameter, 

 and assumes a variety of forms. Each 

 fruit usually contains from four to eight 

 seeds, though a few varieties are practi- 

 cally seedless and others contain more 

 than eight seeds. The fruit ripens from 

 Ausust to December. Frost apparently 

 aids in the ripening process of some va- 

 rieties, but is entirely unnecessary with 

 others, as is proven by the fact that many 

 varieties ripen their fruit in August and 

 September, long before the appearance of 

 frost. 



Varieties are not true to seed, and vary 

 as much in this respect as does the apple. 

 Persimmons are usually propagated from 

 seed, the seedlings being budded or graft- 

 ed with improved varieties. Seed for this 



purpose is gathered in the fall, treated 

 like peach pits during the winter, and 

 planted in the early spring. The seed- 

 lings are allowed to remain in the nur- 

 sery two years and are budded or crown 

 grafted in the spring. Fall budding and 

 midwinter root grafting have both proved 

 unsuccessful at the Indiana station. Both 

 cleft and whip grafting are practiced, 

 care being taken to cover the cut portion 

 well with grafting wax. 



Native seedlings require considerable 

 time before they come into bearing, but 

 when grafted or budded with improved 

 varieties and well cared for they often 

 produce fruit in three or four years from 

 the graft. 



Transplanting is best done in autumn. 

 This gives the trees an opportunity to 

 adjust themselves to their new position 

 and the pruned roots time to callous be- 

 fore growth commences in the spring. 

 The long taproot, which is characteristic 

 of persimmons, renders transplanting 

 somewhat difficult. Trees which have 

 been removed once or twice in the nur- 

 sery, or young trees not more than one 

 or two years from the graft, more readily 

 adapt themselves to this purpose. Ground 

 intended for new orchards should be 

 thoroughly subsoiled to a depth of about 

 eight inches below the roots of the young 

 trees and kept well cultivated throughout 

 the first seasons. 



Persimmons do well on almost any soil, 

 from worn-out red clays to the most fer- 

 tile bottom lands. 



Peksimmons, Profits from. See Ala- 

 bama. 



PERSIMMON DISEASES 



Leaf Blight 



Cercospora diospyri Thum. 



This disease occurs in Southern states 

 on leaves and fruit of perismmons. 



Control 



This, in common with related fungi, 

 should yield to Bordeaux treatment. 



Peteowski Tttrnip, value of variety. 

 See Alaska. 



