PERSIMMONS. 



11 



and the soil is kept free from weeds and cultivated regularly. (See 

 PI. I, figs. 1 and 2.) 



All the persimmons in northern China are ring budded or grafted 

 upon a species growing wild in the mountains that bears small black 

 fruit full of seeds. The ordinary Chinese name for this wild persim- 

 mon is "Ghae tsao," meaning black date, and statements have 

 appeared in several papers that the Chinese use a black date — that is, 

 a jujube — as stock for their persimmons. It is, however, an indis- 

 putable fact that the stock used in northern China is the Diospyros 

 lotus (fig. 1 ) . In cen- 

 tral China probably 

 other species are used, 

 among which is at 1 east 

 one which has not yet 

 been identified. (See 



PI. Ill, 



fig- 



1.) 



CULTIVATED VARIE- 

 TIES. 



Many different va- 

 rieties of persimmons 

 are grown in China, 

 varying in size, color, 

 productivity, etc. 

 Of those that came 

 under the writer's 

 notice there is one 

 that stands out above 

 all others in excel- 

 lent qualities. The 

 fruit of this particular 

 variety has a bright 

 orange-red color, grows to a large size, measuring from 3 to 5 inches 

 in diameter and sometimes weighing more than a pound. It is per- 

 fectly seedless, is not astringent, and can be eaten even when green 

 and hard. It stands shipping remarkably well. The fruit is of a 

 peculiar shape, having an equatorial constriction, which makes it look 

 as if two fruits had been joined, or, to use a more terse expression, as 

 if somebody had sat upon it (fig. 2). The trees are very thrifty 

 growers when once thoroughly established. They reach a height of 

 from 30 to 50 feet, and though the young branches are very erect the 

 older ones bend down a good deal because of the great weight of the 

 fruit. The trees seem to bear very heavy crops in some years, while 



204 



Fig. 1.— The trunk of a persimmon tree more than a century old in a 

 temple courtyard near Taianfu, Shantung Province, China. Note 

 the clear division between the stock (Diospyros lotus) and the graft 

 (Z>. kaki). 



