330 



ECONOMIC PLANTS OF JAPAN— VI. 



myrtle, huge Spanish daggers and a profusion of 

 blooming plants add their attractiveness to the door 

 yards. Hammocks swing in every shady nook, and 

 the spirit of afternoon rests upon it all. 



It was the last of August when I reached the 

 coast, and the weather was very warm. The mer- 

 cury, however, did not cover so high a range by 

 nearly ten degrees, as it had in my Ohio home dur- 

 ing June and July. And by an examination of the 

 record I found that the mercury had not, earlier in 

 the season, ranged much higher there than it then 

 did. But the period of hot weather is much longer 

 than in the north, beginning in May and continuing 

 until October. The mornings and evenings are al- 

 most always cool, and I know of no spot where an 

 early morning stroll is more delightful than along 

 that beach. 



But it was not of its attractions for the money 

 spender, but of the money getter, that I was think- 

 ing when I began to write. The horticultural re- 

 sources of that section are vast and as yet practi- 

 cally undeveloped. The soil may not be as gener- 

 ally prolific, nor so capable of supporting a general 

 agriculture as elsewhere, but for fruits adapted to 

 the climate, and for market gardening, it offers fine 

 opportunities. Among the fruit industries which 

 might be profitably followed, I would place fig grow- 

 ing first. The fig tree grows there rapidly to matur- 

 ity. With the slightest care it produces most abun- 

 dantly. At Biloxi and other points are factories 

 which will use the entire available product at good 

 prices, for making preserves, jams, etc. At New 

 Orleans the figs are in demand for making candied 



fruits. For eating in the fresh state, the better va- 

 rieties are delicious, but owing to their scarcity are 

 almost unknown in our northern markets, as are the 

 preserves also, except in the larger cities. 



The industry which I would give second place, on 

 the score of profitableness, would be that of grow- 

 ing pecans. The principal drawback to this is the 

 time required — about twelve years — for the trees to 

 come into bearing. But one good crop will repay 

 for long waiting. A good tree will produce many 

 bushels, and in September new-crop pecans were 

 selling in New Orleans at 40 cents per pound. The 

 scuppernong grape is being successfully cultivated 

 for wine, but regarding this I shall have more to 

 say in a future paper. 



Market gardening, while in many sections largely 

 carried on for the purpose of supplying northern 

 markets, seems to have been overlooked here, where 

 a good market is close at hand. The growth of the 

 hotel business and the constantly increasing num- 

 ber of people who visit this coast both in summer 

 and winter, afford the best possible opportunity for 

 gardeners ; yet, many hotel men told me that they 

 were compelled to depend almost wholly upon New 

 Orleans and northern markets for fresh vegetable 

 supplies. Land is cheap ; the climate permits out- 

 door labor the year around, and the gardener has 

 two distinct seasons of planting and reaping in each 

 twelvemonth. Within a generation, as the waste 

 places of our land are taken up before the needs of 

 an ever increasing population, this whole littoral 

 will blossom under cultivation like the rose garden 

 of Saadi. James K. Reeve. 



ECONOMIC PLANTS OF JAPAN— VI.* 



PERSIMMONS. 



HE GENUS diospyros (family 

 Ebenaceje) contams a number 

 o f valuable species, mostly 

 good-sized trees with fleshy 

 berry like fruits, and several 

 of them produce also a heavy, 

 black heart wood which is known in commerce as 

 ebony. We have a well-known representative of 

 the genus in this country in our common persim- 

 mon, Diospyros Virginiana, which is native to a 

 large portion of the United States. The Japanese 

 persimmon is merely another species of the same 

 genus. It has been named Diospyros Kaki, the 

 word Kaki being the native name of the fruit. 



It is a fair-sized tree, attaining a height of some 

 forty feet, or occasionally more. While young it is 



of rapid growth and upright habit, but later becomes 

 crabbed and spreading, with a rather broad and rounded 

 head. The leaves are rather large, shining dark-green, 

 and the flowers small greenish-yellow. The heart-wood 

 of large trees furnishes a kind of ebony which is highly 

 prized by the Japanese, who use it extensively for 

 cabinet work and for all purposes similar to those for 

 which ebony is used here and elsewhere. It is dark, 

 heavy, and takes a splendid polish. But the propor- 

 tion of black wood is somewhat variable in different 

 trees, it being probably influenced both by peculiarities 

 of the variety and by the nature of the soil. Nor is the 

 heart-wood always or even generally solidly black. It 

 is often variegated, the black color fading away into 

 lighter shades, or it is interspersed with patches and 

 stripes of white or yellow. This gives the wood a 



*Ccpyrighted by the author. 



