THE LOQUAT 
227 
while so exceptional as not to modify 
the sense of our article, they are of in- 
terest as showing that under certain con- 
ditions the fruit may ripen in the open 
air in this country. 
Bearing pleasant fruit and flowers, of good 
form and vigorous constitution, this fine ever- 
green tree from China and Japan should be 
worth a place in our glass-houses, where room 
is often found for shrubs that are of less value. 
It may be seen here and there in the open air, 
in sheltered gardens along the south coast, as 
on the walls of Battle Abbey near Hastings, 
where it reaches a height of over 30 feet, and 
again in the Bishop's Garden at Chichester, 
and at Southampton, where a fine tree nearly 
30 feet high is growing against a house-front 
— but these trees seldom flower even in the 
extreme south-west and never seem to ripen 
fruit. For though awall-grown plant at Levant 
Lodge, Worcester, set a few clusters after the 
hot summer of Jubilee year they were destroyed 
by frost while still unripe. Save in such shel- 
tered coast gardens the Loquat is too tender 
for the open air, suffering even at Kew upon 
a warm south wall. Under glass however it 
may be grown in a few years into one of the 
finest of ornamental trees, superior to the 
Orange in appearance and far less trouble to 
grow, while its fruits are borne freely and are 
so distinct from most garden fruits as to be 
welcome for the table. In the south of France 
a good tree of eight to twelve years will carry 
60 to 100 lbs. weight of fruit in a season, and 
even allowingf or a reduced yield under changed 
conditions, trees loaded with fine clusters have 
ripened their fruits at Stowell House, at Cot- 
tingham Grange, and other places within re- 
cent years, and that not a chance yield but 
from year to year, with sometimes two crops 
in a season. Added to this the Loquat travels 
well, ripens earlier than almost any other fruit 
(April to June), and is free from the diseases 
which make modern fruit culture so difficult 
and costly. 
In the days of Loudon there was sufficient 
reason for this neglect in the poor quality of 
the fruits, but he suggested the raising of seed- 
lings and their careful selection in gardens of 
[ the south of Europe, in the hope of obtaining 
a good dessert fruit. This has been done, and 
a number of fine named kinds are-now to be 
had in the south of Europe, Algeria, and 
California, kinds in which the pulp is im- 
proved in texture, quantity, and flavour, the 
large cluster of " stones " which is such a 
drawback to the common form being reduced 
to one or two small pips. The fruits are oval 
or rounded, of about the size of a Greengage, 
and vary in colour from lemon-yellow to that 
of a ripe Apricot with a downy or smooth skin 
according to variety. Their flavour is pleasantly 
acid and refreshing, with abundant juice when 
allowed to hang until fully ripe, and they come 
in fine clusters of 5 to 10 fruits each. Freed 
from the seeds the pulp makes an agreeable 
preserve. Seedlings begin to bear at the fifth 
or sixth year, but for this country stout young 
trees of the finer sorts only should be imported 
from good nurseries in the south, for while of 
more vigorous growth, seedlings are of uncer- 
j tain quality. Grafted on its own roots the tree 
makes a handsome standard with a spreading 
umbrella-head, but is longer in coming to 
fruit. Grafted on the Quince — to which 
it is allied — the tree takes bush-form and 
I fruits early, while grafting on the Hawthorn 
gives fragrance, but the union is less satisfac- 
tory in other ways. Visitors to the Riviera 
are familiar with the Loquats off'ered in the 
{ markets during May, and spite of the fact 
i that these are mostly gathered by the peasants 
from inferior trees grown without care from 
! chance seeds, their flavour is so new and re- 
freshing that they find favour, spite of the 
[ offending core. But, with selected varieties, 
{ gathered from trees duly thinned and cared 
for, the Loquat becomes a fruit worthy of 
any table, and so easily grown that no one need 
fear to undertake its culture. 
But even if it never fruited, the Loquat 
would be worth growing for the beauty which 
has made it a favourite lawn and avenue-tree 
wherever conditions are in its favour. There 
are trees in Devon and Cornwall nearly 20 
feet high and as much through, and older ones 
of 25 to 30 feet are found here and there in 
the south of Europe and in California (where 
it is much planted in avenues), and in its own 
country gnarled old trees of great age exist. 
