PRICE FIVE CENTS, 
$2.00 PER YEAR. 
NEW YORK, FEB. 18, 1882 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1882, by the Rural New-Yorker, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.] 
rather tough and somewhat “ puckery.” The 
members of our household did not seem to 
relish it greatly; still we can understand that 
many might consider it delicious. Seeds 
black, one-half inch in diameter, flat, and four 
in number, though it is said to be a seedless 
kind.— Eds 1 
three-and-a half inches in diameter. There is 
very little difference between them as to fla¬ 
vor, and both are without seeds. Flesh pulpy, 
finely-grained, soft, of a peculiar rich and 
sweet flavor, very similar to that of wefl-de- 
velojjed native persimmons, but without 
asti iageney. If the fruit has been allowed to 
be eaposed to a slight frost before gathering, 
all trace of astriugency disappears* If cut 
before frost and allowed to mature in the 
house, a little puckery taste is found next to 
the skin. 
The Among is another excellent medium¬ 
sized kind: color deep orange; size a little 
smaller than that of Hyakdme; very prolific. 
Hackya is of acute-oblong shape, very much 
like au acorn. The fruit dropped, however, 
before maturity. 
Mikado, shape oblong, with round apex; 
three inches long by two in diameter; dropped 
its fruit before maturity, 
The tenacity with which the Zingl, Kuro- 
kume, Among, Hyakiune and Tanenashi cling 
to the stem Is quite remarkable. Even when 
the fruit is apparently so ripe that there is 
dunger of its not being able to be«r its own 
weight, it is impossible to pull the l’ruit with¬ 
out crushing it to a pulpy inass, and the only 
way to gather it is to cut the stem with a 
knife. 
The nomenclature existing among the vari¬ 
ous growers is, no doubt, somewhat erroneous, 
and many names will prove to be synonymous. 
Thus we have the following applied to Tan- 
enashi, viz: Minoknki, Imperial, Daimio; 
and I found that Yomato was similar to 
Hachya. 
Trees grown from seed are very slow in 
coming into bearing. 1 have trees now nine 
years old which bloomed three years ago and 
produced all male flowers. The third year 
about one female flower among AIM) males was 
produced; fruit set but fell before being fully 
developed. I have it from good authority 
that the proportion of seedlings producing 
fruit of fair quality is extremely small as 
compared with those yielding worthless fruit. 
Again, the male trees are far in excess of 
those producing perfect flowers. Trees graft¬ 
ed with any of the varieties named above are 
therefore more reliable than those grown 
from imported seed. 
I Mr. Berckmuus was kind enough to send 
us a specimen fruit of the Tanenashi Persim¬ 
mon, of which a correct outline sketch is pre¬ 
sented in Fig 51. It was received the latter 
part of October and eaten Dec. 15. The color 
of the skin was a bright orange; the flesh of a 
and a decided improvement upon it in several 
essential respects. It has thus far shown itself 
to be very hardy, productive and healthy. 
The' berries are jet black, of good size and 
quality. The illustration on page 113 has been 
carefully drawn by our artist from a photo¬ 
graph furnished tus by Mr. J. H. Hale, who, in 
a privuto letter, writes as follows regard¬ 
ing it:— 
“In July, 1870, we put out some plants of 
the Souhegan Raspberry in rows eight feet 
apart, plants two feet apart in the row. 
These produced a partial crop in 1880, and the 
same season all the new growth was pinched 
back to feet.and all lateral branches pinch¬ 
ed back two or three times during the Sum¬ 
mer, so that by Fall they bad formed a solid 
hedge-row about three feet wide and the same 
in hight The illustration you give is from 
a photograph taken on July 7,1881, and shows 
two feet on one side of such a row, three feet 
high. All of the fruit was ripe, and had been 
for several days, at the time it was taken.” 
JAPANESE PERSIMMONS, 
P. J. BEBCKMANS, AUGUSTA, GEORGIA. 
Although trees of this new fruit were Intro¬ 
duced but four or five years since, the numer¬ 
ous instances of the production of a crop of 
fruit in various sections of the Southern 
States afford conclusive proof that they are 
well adapted to the Cotton growing Belt. 
How far north this fruit may prove hardy is 
still to be determined. Last September I saw 
quite a considerable number of trees in Nor¬ 
folk, Va. They had been planted in nursery 
rows in the Spring of 188(1 and had survived 
the severe cold of the Winter of 1880-81. A 
few tiroes produced fruit. This may lead 
many persons to the conclusion that if the 
trees can stand the Winters of Norfolk, they 
can stand those equally well in sections under 
the same latitude. This, however, should not 
be relied upon as a safe guide, because the in¬ 
fluence of the sea air upon certain plants is 
very marked. Thus, fig trees will attain u 
large size and seldom become injured by a 
severe frost when planted near the shore near 
Norfolk, while it is impossible to keep trees 
sound when planted far inland even 300 to 
400 miles further south. This may likewise 
apply to the Japanese Persimmons, and there¬ 
fore it is safe to say that they are at home 
in the true Cotton Belt of the Southern States. 
Imported tre *s arriving hero in December, 
should be kept from being too suddenly ex¬ 
posed to cold. After a confinement in cases 
during six to eight weeks they seem to be 
very sensitive to cold, and numerous failures 
havo resulted from a sudden exposure. After 
the trees have grown one Bummer, they can 
withstand any degree of cold likely to happen 
here, as even a cold of live degrees below zero 
in December, 1880, did not injure the trees 
planted upon the mountains of upper Georgia. 
Trees grown in California are inferior in ap¬ 
pearance to those growu in Japan for the 
American market. The former are deficient 
in lateral roots, an enormously long tap-root 
being all that constitutes that portion of the 
trfce, and as a result failures have been 
very frequent with these. The native per¬ 
simmon makes an excellent stock; the prop¬ 
agating should be by deft-graft, two to three 
inches below the surface of the soil, and the 
operation should be performed early in Feb¬ 
ruary. Late grafting causes the stock to ex¬ 
ude a lurgo quantity of gum, thus destroy¬ 
ing the graft. Bummer budding has re¬ 
peatedly failed from the same cause. 
Borne varieties are wonderfully prolific and 
precocious bearers. A tree of the variety 
Kurokume, planted in Mnreli, 1880, when one 
year old produced last Fall 65 fully devel¬ 
oped specimens all matured, and the tree is not 
above four feet in hight. Native trees grafted 
below ground two years ago yielded as high 
as 00 persimmons last season. 
A peculiarity of the habit of fruiting is that 
the fruit is produced upon the wood of the 
same year. In this they are analagous to the 
grape-vine. The early growth is sometimes 
injured by a late frost and the first crop of 
blossoms destroyed. If the trees are thrifty 
a new growth immediately follows, and a sec¬ 
ond crop of blossoms appears and the fruit 
usually sets well. In some varieties another 
crop of fruit sets in July or August, but this 
has so far never attained perfection here. 
Varieties differ in grow th and size of foli¬ 
age. The Zingl and Kurokume are the small¬ 
est-growing of all the varieties so far tided; 
their fruit is also small when compared with 
that of some others. Still they attain from 
two to two and a half inches in diameter. 
The largest varieties are the Hyakutue and 
Tanenashi; both are globular in shape and a 
little flattened; size from two-and-a-half to 
LONGFELLOW STRAWBERRY, 
Our illustration portrays this berry at its 
best as it grows at the Rural Grounds. It may 
The Poinsettia pulcherriruu is general'y 
suppose to require a strong, moist heat for the 
full development of its beautiful bracts, and 
very properly so; and yet it will bear a de¬ 
gree of cold thut 1 have never seen it credited 
with. It may be interesting as well as useful 
if I state some of my experience with the 
Poinsettia. I have on two or three occasions 
had the plants frozen hard before they were 
brought into the house. The foliage and all 
the preseut season’s growth were destroyed; 
and yet they not only survived it, but, on 
being pruned back and placed in a strong, 
moist heat, tuey soon produced a vigorous 
new growth, and flowered about as well is 
though nothing had happened to them. Dur¬ 
ing the latter part of last November I wag 
walking through a garden and saw a number 
of Poinsettias that had been badly frozen and 
looked deplorable. I called the gardener’s at¬ 
tention to them. “ Yes," said he, “ I forgot 
them, and now they're ruined, and they're all 
I’ve got.” 1 told him I thought they were not 
ruined, and advised him to lift the pots and 
take them in. He did so, and I pruned them 
for him. I saw the plants again on the 13th 
of January. They were coming into bloom 
beautifully and the gurdtner was delighted. 
I now have two plauts that have been frozen 
two or three times this Winter purposely, and 
are being kept for further experiment. I al¬ 
lude to these facts because 1 have more than 
once seen fine plants of Poinsettia throw n 
away because they bad been aecidentally 
frozen before being housed in the Fall. 
Longfellow—From Nature. Fig. 52. 
be described as large, long-conical, dark red, 
firm, sweet and excellent. The plant is with 
us vigorous and withstands hot suns as well 
as most kinds. From a fair estimate of the 
reports we have collected from all parts of 
the country, it would appear that the Long¬ 
fellow requires a rich soil and good care to l>e 
productive. 
The Rural New-Yorker has already 
given the history of the Souhegan Raspberry, 
Is it not about time that the Little Gem 
Tomato were dropped from the catalogues ( 
It is not a gem in any sense of the word. It is 
a few days earlier than some other kinds, and 
that, I think, is all that can be said of it, for 
it hajnothing in the way of quality t>» recom¬ 
mend it, and it is not worth the room it takes 
up. [The Rural said this several years ago. 
—Eds.] We use it only two or three days be¬ 
fore something much better comes in, and then 
we want no me re of it. 
A mono the newer Abutilons, rozseflora de¬ 
serves to be better known than it seems to be. 
The plant is of good habit, a moderate, com- 
p>act grower, with small, entire leaves, and the 
flowers are of a beautiful, bright, rose coloi. 
It proves, on trial, to be an excellent room 
plant, and this adds to its value. 
THE JAPAN PERSIMMON—“TANENASHI”—FROM NATURE. Fig. 51, 
now being introduced by Messrs. J. H. & G. 
H. Hale, of South Glastonbury, Conn. It is 
supposed to be a seedling of the Doolittle, 
though earlier than that well-known variety 
rich orange, reddish-yellow color. It was very 
tender and melting, in some parts jelly-like ; 
solid, sweet—not sprightly or vinous, but 
sweet like a date though less in degree: skin 
The heat and drought of last Summer gave 
on uncertain value to all kinds of experiments 
