Miscellaneous Fruits ‘Department 
U NDER this department we list a few fruits that do not seem to fit in under 
any other department but which are by no means the least important in 
our catalogue. Loquats and Guavas are adapted throughout the Gulf 
coast country, and are very desirable fruits. Grapes are too well known to require 
any extensive remarks in relation to them. We can simply say that the grapes we 
list have been tried extensively and have proven the best adapted out of a large 
number of kinds tested. 
LOQUAT 
{Eriobotrya Japonicay Japanese Medlary Biwa of the Japanese) 
This fruit has been very commonly called “Japan Plum” in the South. It is not a plum, 
however, and bears no relation lo that fruit. The tree is liardy througliout a wide region of the 
South, and is one of the most beautiful of broad-leaved evergreens. The leaves are large, dark 
green, rough and crimped ; the young wood woolly ; tlie shoots sliort and thick and tlie branches 
crooked. It is a compact grower, and forms a dense and well-rounded head. It blooms in the 
fall, the spikes of wliite flowers being followed by a delicious fruit, which ripens in March and 
April. The fruit is about the size of the Wild Goose plum, oblong, bright yellow, subacid, and of 
very agreeable flavor. A good many trees are in bearing in Florida and in some parts of Louisiana 
and Texas, where it is found in market, and is much esteemed in season. It is not only eaten out 
of hand, but is much used in cooking, the flavor suggesting cherries, and makes an exquisite jelly. 
W'hile the tree is hardy quite far North, it is not a success as a fruit where the winters are severe, 
as this is its fruiting season. It yields occasional crops as far north as Jacksonville and Tallahas¬ 
see, however, and is frequently seen in the New Orleans market. In south Florida it bears regu¬ 
larly and abundantly, and its range, as a fruit crop, is about coextensive with the orange. We 
consider this fruit worthy of being more extensively planted. Every orchard or garden plot in 
the extreme South should contain at least a few trees of this unique and desirable fruit. 
GUAVA 
CATTLEY. One of the hardiest Guavas. A very handsome evergreen shrub, with glossy, 
camellia-like leaves. Produces in immense quantities small red fruits, about an inch in diameter. 
Makes a very fine jelly. Can be grown throughout P'lorida and ail along the Gulf coast country 
as well as in more tropical sections. 
Too little attention has been given to Grape culture in the South. Throughout a very large 
section they can be grown with surprising ease, and no family should be without a few vines. 
The Grape is not only one of the most palatable of fruits, but one of the healthiest. In foreign 
countries there are several large “Grape Cures,” where the patients’ treatment consists, as far as 
medicine is concerned, of eating large quantities of this delicious fruit. 
(35) 
