386 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



mi-tsao, or honey-jujube. "To prepare this," he says, "the 

 Chinese take large, sound, dried fruits and boil them thoroughly 

 in sugared water, after which they are taken out and dried in 

 the sun or wind for a couple of days. When sufficiently dry 

 they are given a slight boiling again and are partly dried. 

 When dry enough to be handled, the skin is slightly slashed 

 lengthwise with a few small knives tied together. Then the 

 fruits are given a third boiling; now, however, in a stronger 

 sugar water, and for the best grades of honey-jujube honey is 

 added. When this process is finished they are spread out to 

 dry, and when no longer sticky are ready to be sold." 



A chemical analysis of the Chinese jujube made by the Bureau 

 of Chemistry at Washington showed it to contain: Total 

 solids 31.9 per cent, ash 0.73, acids 0.29, protein 1.44, total sugar 

 21.66 (sucrose 9.66, invert sugar 12.00), fat 0.21, hydrolyzable 

 carbohydrates 2.47 and fiber 1.28. 



Regarding the climatic and soil requirements of the jujube, 

 Fairchild l writes : 



" No weather appears to be too hot for it, and so far as resistance 

 to cold is concerned, it has withstood temperatures of 22 F. without 

 injury. Just how much lower winter temperatures it will withstand 

 has not yet been determined. The range of territory, however, over 

 which it is likely to prove a success as a fruit tree will probably be 

 limited more by the length of the summer season than by the severity 

 of the winter. The whole Southwest, with the exception of the elevated 

 areas where cold summer nights occur ... is a promising region in 

 which to test the jujube. It enjoys brilliant sunshine, dry weather, 

 and long, intensely hot summers, and although it will form good sized 

 trees under other conditions, it appears to require these climatic 

 factors to make it fruit early in life, regularly, and abundantly. 



"As regards soil conditions, it appears to withstand slight amounts 

 of alkali and to thrive with special vigor on the loess, or wind-drifted 

 soil formations of China. . . . Under irrigation in northern California, 

 and without irrigation in Central Texas, the trees have grown luxu- 

 riantly and fruited abundantly. In the warm humid region of Mary- 

 land, seedling trees have grown well, but fruited sparingly and irregu- 

 larly. In Georgia, old seedling jujubes have fruited well." 



1 Journal of Heredity, Jan., 1918. 



