THE KAKI AND ITS RELATIVES 365 



garding Florida: ''The first persimmon to ripen is Zengi, 

 in August ; the whole crop does not come at this time, however, 

 but continues to ripen for sixty days, the seedless ones being 

 larger and later. . . . Early in September come the first 

 Okames, continuing to ripen for a month. Hyakume ripens 

 from September 15 to 30, the bulk of the crop ripening to- 

 gether, which is also true of Yemon, which ripens next. Some 

 fruits of Triumph ripen in September, and it continues to ripen 

 its fruits until December. At any time after the middle of 

 October the whole crop of Triumph may be removed and 

 ripened off the trees. Tane-nashi ripens with Yemon and 

 Hachiya with Okame, Yeddo-ichi early in October, Costata 

 later in the month, and Tsuru latest of all, often hanging on 

 the trees until midwinter." Roeding gives the ripening season 

 of the principal commercial varieties in California as follows: 

 Tane-nashi in September, Hachiya in October, Hyakume in 

 November, and Yemon in December. 



Pests and diseases. 



There are few insects or fungous diseases which need cause 

 the American kaki-grower serious concern. The Mediterranean 

 fruit-fly (Ceratitis capitata Wied.) attacks the fruit in Australia, 

 but this insect has not yet made its appearance in the United 

 States. A few scale insects are occasionally found in the kaki 

 orchards of California and Florida, but the attacks of none 

 have proved serious. Hume writes as follows with reference 

 to Florida : 



" The worst enemy of persimmon trees, and the only one worthy 

 of note, is the flat-headed borer (Dicera obscura), a native insect. 

 The adult is a hard, metallic beetle, about five-eighths inch in length. 

 It lays its eggs in rough-barked places in the crotches of the tree, or 

 in wounds made in pruning or resulting from injuries of any kind. 

 The young borers hatched from these eggs bore through the bark, 

 work between the bark and wood, later boring into the wood. The 

 larvae when well grown are about one inch long, white, with broad, 



