170 



HOME FRUIT GROWER 



therefore, it need not grow as tall as an Apple tree. As it is a par- 

 ticularly difficult tree to transplant, and as seedlings produce very 

 variable fruit, the best way to get good varieties is to gather seeds in 

 Autumn or early Winter, keep them in sand or soil out-of-doors until 

 Spring, then plant where the trees are to grow, the idea being to bud 

 or graft them the second or third Spring thereafter with varieties of 

 known merit. When the bark will separate freely from the wood is the 

 proper time. Ordinary methods of budding and grafting are successful. 



If it is ever necessary to transplant the trees the operation should 

 be done as soon as the leaves drop in the Fall of the first or the second 

 year, so as to save as much as possible of the tap root. The top must 

 be cut back severely to balance the loss of this main root, otherwise 

 the tree will almost surely die. Any warm, deep, well-drained, well- 

 prepared soil will suit this tree, especially if placed in full sunlight 

 and kept clean cultivated for the first several years. When trans- 

 planted the trees should be set two or three inches deeper than in the 

 nursery, and 15 to 20 feet apart. The branches should be started 

 low to favor hand-picking. As the trees are very deep rooting, other 

 plants may be set near them, and as they are exceptionally free from in- 

 sects and diseases they are never a menace to other fruit trees or bushes. 



Among the varieties so far disseminated the ones shown in the 

 accompanying table are described by W. F. Fletcher in Farmers' 

 Bulletin No. 685, which may be secured upon application to the 

 Department of Agriculture. The "season" for any locality may be 

 calculated from that given in the table by remembering that north of 

 the place of origin it will be later, but south earlier. 



AMERICAN PERSIMMON VARIETIES 



