LUTHER BURBANK 



Japanese "rice beer" has been recently reinoved. 



It appears that carbonic acid in the absence of 

 oxygen produces in the fruit precisely the chem- 

 ical changes necessary to transform it from an 

 astringent and inedible fruit to a highly palatable 

 one. 



I have raised vast numbers of > seedlings of the 

 Japanese persimmon and have attempted to pro- 

 duce new varieties by crossing this with the Amer- 

 ican persimmon; but as yet I have not succeeded 

 in effecting this hybridization — chiefly, perhaps, 

 because the American species is such a shy bearer 

 that I have had few good opportunities to cross- 

 fertilize the two. 



Now that the good qualities of the persimmon 

 are beginning to be more gener.ally recognized, 

 further experiments in this direction will probably 

 be carried out, and there is every reason to ex- 

 pect, arguing from analogy, that new and greatly 

 improved races of persimmons may thus be 

 developed. 



Whoever will contrast the hybrid Japanese- 

 American plum of today as developed in my 

 orchards at Santa Rosa and Sebastopol with the 

 best plums of thirty years ago will see at least a 

 suggestion of new possibilities in the prospective 

 union of the Japanese and American persimmon. 

 For the best existing varieties of persimmon — the 



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