FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
65 
shedding it will be found that the stem 
and calyx is always left on the tree, 01 
in other words; separation takes place 
only between the fruit and calyx. In the 
deep cavitied kinds the calyx will always 
be seen to be dragged down into the cavity 
before the shedding occurs. My theory 
therefore, is, that the strain produced by 
the resistance of a very hard calyx against 
being dragged into the narrow, deep 
cavity, tears the fruit off. Whether this 
solution of the mystery is correct or not, I 
am not prepared to say, but after several 
years of close observation, it is the only 
one I have been able to arrive at and it is 
borne out by the following reasons: 
1. The deep cavitied and hard calyx- 
ed kinds shed most. 
2. Any' sudden stimulus, such as a 
heavy rain, or an application of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers, causing a rapid ex¬ 
pansion of the fruit is immediately fol¬ 
lowed by greatly increased shedding, and 
3. A sickly or unhealthy tree on which 
the fruit makes slow growth will in¬ 
variably hold a full crop and vice-versa a 
very vigorous tree will strip itself of every 
specimen. 
It is for the above reasons that I aban¬ 
doned the use of fertilizers on my trees. 
If applied at all it should only be done 
during the winter, so as to give the stimu¬ 
lus time to abate before the fruit is set. 
The Hyakume has a peculiarity—a 
good one too—that I have never seen in 
any other fruit tree. The larger the crop 
on the tree, the greater the size of the fruit, 
and, on the other hand, where a tree has 
only one or two specimens^ they are usual¬ 
ly under the average size. 
Regarding picking, packing and mark¬ 
eting fruit must be clipped from the tree 
like oranges, and should be fairly well 
coloredbut still quite hard. A suitable pack¬ 
age is hard to find, as the fruit varies so 
much in size. When possible, the six 
basket carriers should be used, and are 
best liked by the trade, but some of the 
fruit runs so large that more than two or 
three cannot be packed in the four quart 
basket used in these crates. For fruit of 
that size I use the crate without the baskets 
or sometimes the square cucumber crate. 
Fruit should be wrapped and in each crate 
I always put about a dozen copies of 
plainly printed instructions as to using the 
fruit only when perfectly ripe. These in¬ 
structions I now have printed on paper 
bags, which the retailer can use in de¬ 
livering the fruit to his customers. 
Japanese persimmons are slowly mak¬ 
ing headway in Northern markets. New 
York taking them a little more freely than 
other places, but the demand is still very 
limited and large plantings would easily 
glut the markets. In London, England 
they are coming into considerable favor 
and one small shipment I made there by 
express, sold well, but the express rate 
was prohibitive. The following season 
I shipped fifty crates, in two lots, by 
freight, and they arrived in bad or¬ 
der which can only have been due to bad 
handling on the Atlantic steamships as 
1 kept samples of both lots here, till two 
weeks after the bulk had arrived in Lon¬ 
don, and they were still in perfect condi¬ 
tion, though packed the same as the others 
and kept in our ordinary September tem¬ 
perature. I can see no reason why per¬ 
simmons, should require refrigeration, 
even on such a long trip. Moderately 
good ventilation would probably be far 
better. Specimens will keep for several 
weeks while the temperature is still in the 
seventies and eighties. 
A point in favor of the Japanese per¬ 
simmon is, that it will exist and thrive on 
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