HORTICULTURAL EXPERIMENTS AT SAN ANTONIO. 15 



Dillon, who has been growing dewberries for several years a short 

 distance south of the station, has been successful on soil that is some- 

 what more sandy than that at the experiment farm. The area 

 devoted to the crop has varied from 5 to 10 acres. Mr. Dillon con- 

 siders this one of the most profitable fruit crops for this locality. At 

 the present time he has four varieties — Haupt, Austin May, McDon- 

 ald, and Rogers. Of the four, he considers Austin May the best, with 

 Rogers second. The Rogers is a particularly desirable variety, as it 

 ripens early. There is some danger of late frost injuring the crop, 

 and occasionally the yield is materially decreased because of early 

 flowering. 



PERSIMMON. 



A collection of 12 budded varieties of the Japanese persimmon was 

 placed in the experimental orchards in 1906 and 1907. These in- 

 cluded both the astringent and the nonastringent types, as follows: 

 Astringent — Yemon, Okame, Hachiya, Tsuru, Triumph, Tanenashi, 

 andCostata; nonastringent — Taber's 129, Yedoichi,Hyakume, Taber's 

 23, and Zengi. 



A number of these varieties have done very well, fruiting regularly 

 since reaching bearing age, and some have produced exceptionally 

 heavy yields for small trees. The varieties that have proved the 

 best are the Okame, Tsuru, Taber's 129, Yedoichi, Hachiya, Hyakume, 

 and Zengi. Of these varieties, the trees of Okame and Taber's 129 

 are the most prolific and vigorous. Other very highly prized varieties 

 have been added to the collection recently, but as yet have not 

 reached the bearing age. 



The persimmon is very susceptible to chlorosis, and many of the 

 varieties under trial have been severely injured by this disease. 

 The Diospyros virginiana, which has been used generally as a stock 

 for the Japanese sorts, is very susceptible to this disease and should 

 not be used as a stock in this section. 



Several recent importations by the Office of Foreign Seed and 

 Plant Introduction that are under trial here promise to be valuable 

 additions to the list, both for fruit production and for stocks. Among 

 them may be mentioned Diospyros lotus (S. P. I. 17906), which has 

 been found to be the most resistant to the soil difficulties of any of the 

 different sorts under trial. (See figs. 5 and 6.) The fruit of this 

 tree is very small and is of little value, however. 



No other branch of horticultural endeavor in the San Antonio 

 section promises to afford so broad a field for selection and improve- 

 ment as the nut trees. 



Already a large number of recognized varieties are being tested 

 in this part of the State and undoubtedly there are now in the forests 



