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are. often surprised at seeing the growth of wild quinces on the 

 banks of .Sbinanogawa in the province of Echigo. On the 

 lake side of Suwa, they are planted on low wet lands, newly 

 prepared for them by hilling up the soil from the water. Here 

 they thrive and fruit in the best conditions. The ornamental 

 Cydonias grow more widely than the edible species; they 

 thrive equally well in both halves of the country. 



KAKIS (Date Plums of Japan). 



We have about 800 named varieties of date plums which 

 can be divided into sweet and astringent varieties. They have 

 a wider range of adaptation than the native pearsj and almost 

 equal to the peaches, as will be shown later. They are grown 

 and gathered by the aborigines in Formosa in the extreme 

 south, but I have heard of no trees growing in the Riukiu and 

 Bonin Islands. In Kiushu, Shikoku and the Main Island they 

 thrive well in any district. It is a rather difficult thing to. 

 travel "without seeing a few lots of Kaki trees planted on road- 

 sides and odd lands around farmers' cottages in every village. 

 They have never been planted in regular orchards or gardens, 

 but any vacant lot is used for them. 



Kaki, Kaki, everywhere ; it is as common a scene in Japan 

 as the water in Holland ! But, generally speaking, the date 

 plums gradually lessen in number from the south to the north, 

 and the weet varieties, common in south and central Japan 

 gradually decrease towards the north and are replaced by the 

 astringent ones. Good fruits are produced up to 38 degrees N. 

 L. but from this limit northwards, the fruits become inferior in 

 all respects, until one comes to Tsugaru Strait, which is the ex- 

 treme north limit of the Kaki. Hokkaido has Kaki trees 

 growing quite wild in its southern provinces, but they have 

 proved there unfit for cultivation. 



The date plum has no distinct preference between the, 

 climates oi the two longitudinal halves of Japan. They suc:, 



