
          Introduced Varieties of the Jujube.

Note: ZIZIPHUS JUJUBA, the true jujube, is one of the five principal 
fruits of China. It occurs in many excellent horticultural varieties, 
and has been cultivated for at least 4,000 years. The four kinds described 
below were secured and introduced into the United States by the 
late Frank N. Meyer, who made an exhaustive study of the jujube industry 
in the Orient. Meyer visited many orchards and sampled the fruits 
from the trees; he noted the behavior of trees on various soils and in 
different climatic conditions; he investigated the method of girdling 
trees to make them bear; and he learned how the fruits were processed 
and otherwise prepared for use. Meyer's investigations in China and 
tests carried on at Chico, California, and elsewhere for the past 10 
years have convinced us that the jujube is suited for commercial cultivation 
in the semiarid regions of the Southwest where soil alkalinity, 
early spring frosts, and a light rainfall limit the growing of 
many other fruits.

Jujubes are utilized in China in a great variety of ways. The 
fresh fruits of some varieties may be eaten out of hand; they are sometimes  boiled with millet and rice, or they may be stewed or baked. 
Sometimes they are used, raisin-fashion, to make jujube bread; when 
they are processed, or turned into glace fruits by scoring them and 
boiling them in honey and sugar sirup, they are strikingly like dates. 
Experiments with the fruits in this country have demonstrated the possibility 
of their being utilized as a dainty and delectable confection 
when processed.

22684. ZIZIPHUS JUJUBA. Mu shing hong jujube. From Tsintse, Shansi 
Province, China. Scions collected by Frank N. Meyer, Agricultural Explorer. 
Fruits ellipsoidal in form, somewhat flattened at the ends, 
and of large size, sometimes as much as 1 3/4 inches long by 1 1/2 inches 
broad. The stone is medium to large in size, and sharply pointed. 
Sometimes the bony portion of the stone does not harden, thus giving 
rise to what are termed seedless fruits. While trees of this variety 
do not bear as heavily as do those of some other sorts, the fruits 
have the highest sucrose content of any yet analyzed. An excellent 
jujube, with shapely fruits which process well.

22686. ZIZIPHUS JUJUBA. Lang jujube. From Tsintse, Shansi Province, 
China. Scions secured by Frank N. Meyer, Agricultural Explorer. 
Fruits obovoid to pear shaped, sometimes oblique, of large size, sometimes 
as much as an inch and a half in greatest diameter. The stone 
is ellipsoid, medium sized, tapering to one end which terminates in a 
sharp spine. The variety is a heavy bearer, and the fruits have a 
high sugar content. Undoubtedly one of the best sorts yet tested in 
the United States.

38245. ZIZIPHUS JUJUBA. Sui Men jujube. From Pai Hsiang Chen, 
Shansi Province, China. Scions secured by Frank N. Meyer, Agricultural 
Explorer. Fruits ellipsoidal in form, medium sized, up to 1 3/4 inches 
es in length by 1/2 inch in thickness. The stone is medium sized,

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