218 HORTICULTURAL MANUAL. 



until Decemoer as grown on the south coast, in Arizona, 

 and California. The fruits ripen from February to May, 

 and bear transportation as well as the orange. It is 

 creamy yellow in color, like a small apple, round or pyri- 

 form in shape, and grows in clusters almost like grapes. 

 It is from one to one and one half inches in diameter, with 

 quite large seeds, and with juicy, refreshing flesh mildly 

 subacid. For pies, jellies, marmalade, and dessert it is 

 preferred by most persons to the cherry. 



215. Propagation. In its relationship this fruit seems 

 uncertain. It buds readily on the angers quince, pear, 

 and we have budded it on Pyrus arbutifolia, or bearberry, 

 of the North. It also grows readily from stratified seed 

 kept moist, but freezing is not required. But where select 

 varieties are wanted for fruit-bearing, such as the Giant, 

 it is best to bud on angers quince stocks. At the North 

 it is often propagated for growing in greenhouses and as 

 a house plant. In pots it fruits well in an ordinary living- 

 room. 



216. The Pomegranate. This ancient fruit grows wild 

 in Persia and over central Asia, and some cultivated 

 varieties grow as far north as Samarcand, where the 

 winters are quite severe. In Bible history it was one of 

 the fruits of the promised land, and it entered into the 

 myths and religious ceremonies of the ancient Eomans and 

 Greeks. In ancient times its seeds were used for a cooling 

 drink of special value in fevers and for general use in hot 

 weather as is practised at this time. The varieties grown 

 in south Florida and California were introduced from 

 south China and south Spain, and are not much hardier 

 than the orange. If desirable, much hardier varieties of 

 equal size and beauty of fruit can be introduced from 

 central Asia, as Eegel says it is grown in Kulja on the 

 44th parallel of north latitude. In Persia also very large 



