THE PERSIMMON 



THE MULBERRY 



351 



bright yellow, changing to pale translucent ; skin, 

 tough ; seeds, few ; flavor, sweet and rich ; quality, good. 



KANSAS 



Introduced from Missouri, where it ripens in Septem- 

 ber ; form, roundish-oblate ; size, rather large ; color, 

 yellow splashed with red ; flavor, rich ; quality, very 

 good. 



KAWAKAMI 



This is a hybrid between the American and the 

 Japanese persimmon, having the size and shape of the 

 Japanese variety and the flavor of the American. It is 

 said to be almost as hardy as the native persimmon. 

 Nurserymen in Texas have been offering it since 1905. 



315. Miller Persimmon. (XD 



MILLER. Fig. 315 



Origin, Jackson County, Missouri, where it ripens in 

 September ; form, roundish-oblate ; size, large ; color, 

 reddish-yellow, translucent ; skin, tough ; seeds, rather 

 numerous ; flavor, sweet ; quality, good. 



316. Ruby Persimmon. (XD 



RUBY. Fig. 316. 



Little's Ruby 



Introduced from Cartersburg, Indiana, where it ripens 

 during September and for some time later ; form, 

 roundish-oblate ; size, small to medium ; color, yellowish- 

 red, shading to deep red ; skin, tender ; seeds, few ; 

 flavor, sweet ; quality, very good. 



SHOTO KOTO 



Introduced from Danville, Indiana, where it ripens 

 during October ; form, oblong-ovate ; size, large ; color, 

 dull yellow, blushed in the sun ; skin, rather tough ; 

 seeds, few ; quality, very good. 



SMEECH 



Introduced from Pennsylvania, where it ripens during 

 October and November ; form, roundish-oblate ; size, 

 medium ; color, dull yellow, splashed with red ; flavor, 

 rich and sweet ; quality, very good. 



THE MULBERRY 



The genus Morus, to which the mulberry 

 belongs, is a small one, not more than ten 

 species now being recognized. All of these 

 produce edible fruits, but only three are cul- 

 tivated for their fruits. Morus is a member 

 of the mulberry family (Moracese), and is asso- 

 ciated with the fig, the bread-fruit of the 

 tropics, and several genera producing the 

 rubber of commerce. Two of the ten species 

 of Morus are natives of North America, all of 

 the others being inhabitants of temperate re- 

 gions in Europe and Asia, most abundant in 

 the last-named continent. All are well known 

 for their edible, berry-like fruits, and as trees 

 upon which the silkworm feeds. 



The species cultivated for their fruits are 

 all trees with milky sap and fleshy yellow 

 roots. The leaves are alternate, deeply lobed, 

 and deciduous. The flowers are dioecious or 

 monoecious, both sexes in small, hanging, 

 cylindric axillary catkins, the staminate ones 

 soon falling. The fruit consists of an aggre- 

 gation of more or less united and compressed 

 drupelets tipped with the remnants of the 

 stigma and enclosing a nutlet, the multiple 

 fruit resembling a blackberry. 



317. White Mulberry. (X%) 



1. Morus alba, Linn. Fig. 317. White Mulberry. 

 Tree 30-60 feet, low-branched, with bark broadly fur- 

 rowed into light-brown ridges. Leaves thin, firm, 

 rather small, ovate or ovate-oval, taper-pointed, rounded 

 or heart-shaped at the base, variously lobed, doubly 

 toothed, the teeth large, obtuse, smooth and light glossy 

 green above, paler along the paler veins beneath. 

 Staminate flowers in slender catkins, %-l inch long; 

 pistillate catkins shorter and thicker. Fruit variable, 

 usually oblong-oval, white or pinkish, sometimes nearly 

 dry, sweet and often insipid. 



The home of M. alba is supposed to be 

 northern China and Japan. This species in its 

 many forms has been cultivated in China and 

 Japan from the remotest times to furnish food 

 for the silkworm. Long before the Christian 

 era, it spread westward through India and 

 southern Asia, but did not reach Europe until 

 the Middle Ages, where its cultivation for silk- 

 worms soon became general in Italy and 

 France. It is one of the most interesting and 

 important tree-plants under domestication. 

 No other tree gives employment, directly and 

 indirectly, to so many people. Few trees, if 

 any, supply a product of greater value. No 



