February 20, 1S95.] 



Garden and Forest. 



75 



does well in rich loam, and in winter requires a position 

 where it can get plenty of light in a greenhouse where the 

 temperature ranges between forty and forty-live. It can 

 be grown from cuttings, which root very easily if ojven a 

 little bottom-heat and shaded from bright sunlight. 



Fig. 10. — Gladiolus Iristis concolor. — See page 74. 



Iris reticulata Krelagei. — Bulbs of this Iris, which 

 were set out last autumn, will now be in bloom in a cool 

 and sunny greenhouse. Like others of the reticulata group, 

 they will endure more heat than most hardy Irises, and can 



be forced into bloom earlier if necessary. The flowers of 

 this plant are a reddish purple, although they vary con- 

 siderably in shade, and the claw is veined more conspic- 

 uously than in the type, and it has a yellow crest. The 

 colors generally are not as attractive as are those of several 

 other varieties of I. reticulata. Mr. Michael Barker writes 

 of some of these plants novi? in bloom at Cornell University, 

 that their leaves are four inches long and the flowers an 

 inch and a half in diameter. Mr. Barker, in \i\s Handbook 

 of the IridecB, says that this-variety is the common wild 

 form of the Caucasus, and Professor Foster suggests that 

 it might be regarded as the typical form, since what is 

 known as the true I. reticulata is rarely found among im- 

 ported bulbs, and when crosses are obtained between the 

 type and Krelages variety, the seedlings chiefly follow the 

 characteristics of the latter. Several bulbs are often planted 

 in a single four or five inch pot, but this is an undesirable 

 method, because the bulbs vary greatly in time of their 

 flowering, and there is a remote chance that any three or 

 four would be in bloom at the same time. They should 

 be planted singly in small pots. 



Cultural Department. 



Cultivating the Persimmon. 



TN vol. i., page 514, of Garden and Forest, Charles Naudin 

 •'• speaks brietiy concerning the improvement of North Ameri- 

 can fruits, confining his remarks principally to the Papaw, 

 Asimina triloba, which he characterizes " the best of the wild 

 indigenous fruits of North America." In a foot-note the editor 

 added the Persimmon, Diospyros Virginiana, as being well 

 adapted to cultivation and improvement, and he remarked that 

 "there seems to be no reason why the American Persimmon 

 cannot in time be made to equal the Japanese varieties in size 

 and flavor." But little attention seems "to have been given to 

 the suljject, however, by fruit-growers, 'and persimmons still 

 remain among our neglected wild fruits. But we have re- 

 cently inaugurated a series of experiments in this state, and 

 Illinois has done the same, which have for their object the 

 improvement of these fruits, both of which are indigenous to 

 this state, the Persimmon being especially adapted to the soil 

 and climate of the southern half of each, but it grows to some 

 extent further north. From tlae latitude of Indianapolis south- 

 ward it grows luxuriantly without cultivation, but the fruit is 

 generally small. Heretofore suckers have been used almost 

 exclusively in propagating, but these experiments will include 

 budding and grafting the better varieties as well as cross-fer- 

 tilizing with a view of improving the fruit by increasing the 

 size and reducing the number of seeds and improving its flavor. 

 The work w\\\ be done mostly at one of our substations. 



In speaking of this fruit at a farmers' institute, Mr. O. M. 

 Hadley said that, although this fruit has been so sadly neglected 

 in the past, it is certainly a fruit that should be belter appre- 

 ciated by all, for it has many desirable qualities. The tree is 

 usually small, but has in some instances been found to reach 

 a height of seventy feet. We rarely find it fruiting north of 

 the forty-second parallel. There are various reasons why it 

 has been hitherto neglected. One is that, in most instances, 

 suckers or seedlings have been used for planting, and these 

 generally die, or, if they live, they produce infenor fruit or 

 prove to be sterile. Another discouraging feature is that it 

 requires a long time for the trees to come into bearing. But, 

 since new modes of propagation and cultivation have been 

 introduced, the persimmon has become a fruit upon which we 

 can rely. Sprouts and seedlings should no longer be used. 

 We might as well rely upon seedling Apples, Pears and 

 Plums as upon seedling Persimmons, for nearly ever)' seed 

 will produce a new variety, dilTering from the parent fruit in 

 size, shape and quality. In the present method of propagation, 

 seedlings are grown till one or two years old, and they are 

 then budded and grafted. In this way, when one chances to 

 strike an unusually desirable variety, lie may reproduce it to a 

 certainty. Then he does not have to wait ten or fifteen years 

 for a tree to begin liearing, for we now have a number of 

 varieties which begin to fruit in from three to five years from 

 the graft. Our best persimmons ripen witliout frost, contrary 

 to the general opinion that no persimmon is lit to eat until it 

 lias been well frozen. There arc varieties that ripen in August. 

 The Golden Gem and Early Golden, two of the best, npen 

 early in September. Many excellent varieties, however, do 

 not ripen until late in October or November, and some even 



