UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1215 
Washington, D. C. 
April 1924 
THE CHINESE JUJUBE. 
By C. C. Thomas. Assistant Plant Introducer, Office of Foreign Seed and Plant 
Introduction, Bureau of Plant Industry. 
With a chapter on 
"THE COMPOSITION OF THE CHINESE JUJUBE." 
By C. G. Church. Assistant Chemist, Laboratory of Fruit and Vegetable 
Chemistry, Bureau of Chemistry. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
The Chinese jujube in Asia and Eu- 
rope 2 
The Chinese jujube in the United 
States 3 
Botanical relationships of the jujube_ 4 
Varieties 8 
Propagation 11 
Seeds 11 
Cuttings 12 
Budding 13 
Grafting 13 
Culture 15 
Climate 15 
Soil 16 
Time of planting 16 
Page. 
Culture — Continued. 
Distance for planting 16 
Pruning 17 
Tillage 18 
Diseases and insects 18 
Methods of utilizing the Chinese 
jujube 18 
Jujube confection 19 
Miscellaneous recipes 21 
Future of the Chinese jujube 22 
Composition of the Chinese jujube__ 24 
Samples examined 24 
Methods of analysis 24 
Results of analyses 25 
Summary of analyses 28 
Literature cited 30 
INTRODUCTION. 
The Chinese explorations conducted by the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture have resulted in the introduction of many 
new and valuable plants. One of the more promising commercial 
possibilities resulting from these introductions is the jujube, tsao, 
or Chinese date. Ziziphus jujuba Mill. The scions of the first large- 
fruited varieties to be established in the United States were collected 
by the late Frank N. Meyer, agricultural explorer, in 1908. at 
Tsingtze, Shansi, China. The fruiting of these varieties in America 
stimulated interest in this excellent fruit, and since that time there 
has been an ever-increasing demand for plants of the more desirable 
varieties and for information concerning them. 
The jujube is well adapted to cultivation in a large portion of the 
southern and western United States, since it grows well in the drier 
sections or where alkali is present in the soil in sufficient quantities 
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