PERSEA 



PERSIMMON 



1281 



urinating purposes, also for soap-making. The seeds 

 yield a deep, indelible black stain, and are used for 

 marking linen. Plants are easily raised from seeds, 

 and in good soil in warm situations they grow rapidly, 

 and begin to fruit when about five years old. There 

 are a good many varieties, differing from each other in 

 size, shape and quality of fruit. These differences are 

 nor due to careful cultivation and selection in all cases, 

 however, but to natural variation and accidental inter- 

 crossing. W. HARRIS. 



PERSIAN INSECT POWDER. Chrysanthemum ,p.312. 

 PERSIC A. See Pr units. 

 PERSICARIA. Referred to Polygonum. 



PERSIMMON. Plate XXVIII. Of the Persimmon, 

 two types are known in cultivation for their fruit, -the 

 native, and the Japanese or Kaki. The former is yet 

 little improved, although it has possibilities. See 

 Jtiospyros. 



The native Persimmon.or date plum, Diospyros Vir- 

 giniana (Fig. 1725), is found growing wild in most of 

 the southern states and as far north as 38 lat. It 

 will thrive and ripen its fruit, however, as far north as 

 the Great Lakes. The fruit is little known except to 

 those who live in localities in which it grows wild, and 

 even there but little attention has been given to its cul- 

 tivation and improvement. The tree is usually of small 

 size when grown in the open ground, reaching a height 

 of 20-30 ft. ; when grown in the forest it often reaches 

 a height of 60-80 ft. : and in the rich alluvial river 

 bottoms, from 2-3 ft. in diam. The wood is hard 

 and elastic, and very durable when used for inside 

 work, but it will rot very quickly when placed under 

 ground. The fruit is subglobose and ranges in size 

 from Yt-1 in. in diam., depending largely on the num- 

 ber of seeds which it contains, although seedless vari- 

 eties an inch in diameter are sometimes found. The 

 fruit has a very disagreeable, astringent quality when 

 green, but this disappears in most varieties when it 

 becomes fully ripe. The date of ripening in the central 

 states varies from Aug. 1 to Dec. 1. The old notion of 

 early botanists that this fruit must be subjected to the 

 action of frost before it becomes edible is erroneous; 

 many of the very best varieties ripen long before the 

 appearance of frost, while others never become edible, 

 bein^c so exceedingly astringent that neither sun nor 

 frost has any appreciable effect on them. The Per- 

 simmon is readily propagated from seeds, which should 

 be procured in the fall or early winter and planted in 

 the same manner as peach pits; but as the seedlings, 

 especially from cultivated varieties, cannot be relied 

 upon to reproduce themselves, they should be budded 

 or grafted when 2 or 3 years old. This should be done 

 in the spring as soon as the bark will slip freely. This 

 I tree is more difficult to transplant successfully than 

 almost any other kind of fruit. If too much of the 

 ; long tap-root is cut off the tree will be sure to die. 

 Transplant in the autumn, cut back most of the top, 

 I but preserve as much of the root as possible. The 

 I Persimmon will do fairly well on almost any kind of 

 si>il not too wet, but it will show its appreciation if 

 planted on a rich, warm soil, well exposed to the sun- 

 light, and kept well cultivated for the first few years 

 after planting, until it becomes adapted to its new 

 surroundings. j. TROOP. 



TJie Japanese Persimmon, Diospyros Kaki, is con- 

 sidered by the Japanese as their best native pomological 

 product. Although cultivated in the south of France 

 for more than 75 years, there is no record of its success- 

 ful introduction into the United States previous to about 

 1870. Trees were first sent to California and subse- 

 quently to Augusta, Ga., but owing to defective roots 

 and long delay in transit, the first and second shipments 

 proved a failure, and not until 1876 came the first suc- 

 -.\-ith a few trees. All early importations of trees 

 grown in Japan consisted of trees of small sizes with 

 long tap-roots and no laterals; this, with imperfect 

 packing, caused their loss and subsequent disappoint- 

 ment. American enterprise, however, remedied this, 

 as nurseries were at once established near Yokohama 



and well-grown trees of the best varieties were exported 

 to the United States. Experiments were made at the 

 South by grafting upon native stocks. This proved 

 successful when the graft was inserted upon the collar 

 of the root, 3 to 4 inches below the surface of the soil; 

 but top-grafting or budding upon side branches of large 

 trees was seldom free from failure. The best method 

 of propagating Japan Persimmons is by collar-grafting 

 upon seedlings of the native species (Diospyros Vir- 

 giniana), which are grown either by planting the seed 

 in nursery rows or transplanting the young seedlings 

 from seed-beds early in the spring. The seedlings can 

 be budded during summer, and in favorable seasons a 

 fair proportion of the buds will succeed. 



The U. S. Department of Agriculture received a large 

 quantity of trees from Japan about 1878 or 1879, and 

 fearing that the winter of Washington might prove too 

 cold the trees were sent to Norfolk, Va., where many 

 bore fruit the following year. The first fruiting of 

 which there is any record was at Augusta, Ga., in 1879, 

 upon trees grafted upon native seedlings growing in 

 the forest. As regards the hardiness of the Japanese 

 Persimmons, an experience of twenty-five years demon- 

 strates that some varieties are more resistant to exces- 

 sive cold than others; but few can withstand a temper- 

 ature of zero; and as a rule they are more successful 

 below the 32d degree of latitude than farther north. 

 Many seedlings have been produced that seem to have 

 increased frost - resisting powers. Instances are re- 

 ported in which some of these trees have withstood the 

 winters of east Tennessee. By successive sowing of 

 seeds from these hardier seedlings we may look for a 

 race of trees, either of pure Japanese blood or crosses 

 with our best native sorts, that will be adapted to the 

 middle sections of the U. S., or as far north as is the 

 habitat of the American species. 



Seedlings, so far as proved by many experimenters, 

 have a tendency to produce male flowers only during 

 the first three years of blossoming. After that period 

 a few female flowers appear in very small proportion, 

 sometimes one female flower to 200 male flowers. Fully 

 one-half of the seedlings produce nothing but male 

 flowers ; consequently the proportion of fertile trees is 

 seldom more than 2 to 5 per cent at first blossoming, 

 in cases in which subsequent female flowers appear not 

 above 10 per cent. Again a large proportion of the fruit 

 is small, austere and uneatable. This accounts for the 

 small list of the really good sorts cultivated in Japan 

 or exported here. 



There is a great difference in the habit of growth 

 and foliage of the varieties. All have broad and shiny 

 leaves. Some varieties make a growth of 5-7 feet the 

 first year from graft, and at 10 years form a tree 10 

 ft. in height. Others assume a dwarf, compact habit 

 and seldom grow above 5-6 ft. in height; this class is 

 more precocious in reaching the bearing age than the 

 taller-growing sorts, which are also apt to overbear. 

 It is not uncommon for a three-year-old tree to yield 

 several hundred perfect fruits. Thinning the fruit as 

 soon as set in early summer will prevent an early 

 demise of the tree. Trees thrive in any soil in which the 

 native species grow, but usually fail in wet soils. 



The fruit of all the varieties is very attractive, both 

 as to size and color. The latter is usually of a bright 

 orange-red or vermilion, which is more or less intensi- 

 fied according to variety. The fruits begin to color 

 when half grown, but should not be gathered until just 

 before frost for the late-ripening varieties, or until soft 

 with the early kinds. Some varietios begin to ripen in 

 the middle South as early as September, but a part of 

 the crop upon the same tree can be left to hang until 

 frost and kept sound in a cool room until January. The 

 round-shaped varieties ripen first, the oblong last and 

 keep the longest; these latter should be slowly house- 

 ripened to remove the slight astringency inherent to 

 these varieties. 



The flesh varies according to varieties, but is usually 

 of a bright orange color, soft, rich and sweet and with 

 an apricot flavor; when soft, the pulp should be eaten 

 with a spoon. Some varieties have dark brown-red flesh, 

 and are usually edible when quite solid. A peculiarity of 

 these consists in both red or half red- and half brown- 

 fleshed specimens being produced upon the same tree. 



