FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
31 
is small. But the same trouble exists that 
prevents grapes from being profitable— 
the transportation charges eat up all the 
profits. 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Skinner—I would like to ask on 
what ground figs gTow best in South 
Florida. 
Mr. Wister.—On what w« would call 
low pine lands. The trees that I men¬ 
tioned in my report have been grown 
on low pine lands and cultivated the 
same as you would citrus trees. 
Mr. Skinner—I am fond of canned 
figs and would like to grow enough so 
that I could have a mess of figs oc¬ 
casionally. I have never been success¬ 
ful with figs grown on pine land, and 
thought of starting in on hammock 
land, and wondered if I could do it suc¬ 
cessfully. 
Mr. Wister—I see no reason why 
the figs should not do well on ham¬ 
mock land. 
Mr. Gibbs—I have only grown figs 
on a small scale, but in 1904 when I 
began planting, I found it stated in a 
nursery catalogue that the fig would 
not stand cultivation in Florida, and 
should be planted by the side of build¬ 
ings, or the ground under it be covered 
with planking or some equivalent; sO' I 
gave mine the protection of the fat 
coquina rocks. For one fast-growing 
White Adriatic, I disregarded Prof. 
Hume’s advice and laid a floor of an 
ever-widening circle of saw palmetto 
roots under it from stem to tips of 
outer branches, but it grows almost 
too fast for me. I have to keep carry¬ 
ing to it more big palmetto roots, and 
don’t know as I can find enough to 
prevent the tree’s escape by rapid ex¬ 
tension of its root system. And as for 
the figs, they are the finest figs I ever 
saw. 
Mr. Hubbard—In relation to grapes, 
I have heard that in addition to the 
great expense of transportation, the 
chief drawback in Niagaras is that the 
grapes will not adhere to the bunch, 
but drop off in great numbers and spoil 
the appearance of the fruit before it 
reaches the northern market. This, of 
course, very much affects the sale. 
Prof. Rolfs—Mr. Winters, can’t you 
tell us something about those experi¬ 
ments you tried on the kaki? 
Mr. Winters—American travellers 
returning from Japan have frequently 
told us about Japanese methods of fer¬ 
menting the persimmons. Almost 
without exception, these travelers 
have spoken in the most complimen¬ 
tary terms of the advantages to the 
fruit from this process. Briefly stat¬ 
ing, the process as practiced in Japan 
is to secure used saki casks. Roughly 
speaking, the Japanese saki corres¬ 
ponds very well to what we know as 
beer in this country. The Japanese 
secure used saki kegs, remove the head, 
and then pace in it the persimmon 
fruit. Care is taken by the Japanese 
horticulturist to select the fruit that 
has turned red but still very firm. We are 
told that much of the success in fer¬ 
menting kaki in this way depends on 
the expertness of the person who does 
the fermenting. First, in the matter 
of selecting the fruit, when it is suffi¬ 
ciently matured, and not over matur¬ 
ed; and second, in removing it from the 
casks at a time when it has fermented 
sufficiently. With a view of finding 
out something about this method, 
some experiments were taken up at 
