750 
tings of fifty-two varieties of persimmons from Honan, 
Shensi and Shansi provinces, China, Among these varieties 
are a number especially suited for drying for winter use, 
others seedless, and resembling the "Tamopan," others 
which can not be dried out will keep fresh nearly all 
winter, others cultivated for the sole purpose of distill- 
ing a brandy. Among them is one variety of which Mr. 
Mayer says, "The original wild form of the North Asiatic 
persimmon, from which probably nearly all cultivated vari- 
eties of so-called Oriental persimmons have been developed. 
Fruits are small, of globular shape, and of yellowish- 
green color. The taste is sour and astringent, and the 
fruits are full of seeds. The tree occurs oh gently slop- 
ing mountain sides and on the edges of loose ravines, and 
is able apparently to stand a great amount of drought. Of 
medium dimensions, Inclined to be low-branched, bark fair- 
ly smooth and scaly, of an ashy color. It is locally 
sparingly used as a stock for the cultivated varieties, 
but Diospyros lotus is preferred, as being thriftier and more 
easily reached." 1 
.Concerning the methods of drying persimmons the ex- 
plorer writes, "To obtain a superior quality of dried 
persimmon the following method is used with this variety 
(S.P.I. No. 37648). In early October sound fruits are 
picked, which although ripe, must still be hard, care be- 
ing taken to have the peduncle with a piece of twig at- 
tached to each fruit. The fruits are peeled by means of a 
small, special knife and an average worker can peel 2000 
persimmons a day, while an expert brings 1t up to 5000, 
The peeled fruits are tied by means of their peduncles, on 
a loosely twisted, but strong sort of string, which hangs 
down in pairs vertically over, horizontally placed beams 
which have been put up specially for this work. From 200 
to 300 fruits are tied to each string and the work of ty- 
ing starts by putting a couple of fruits at the bottom 
first, so as to keep the strings taut, after which the 
work progresses from top to bottom. The fruits are now 
left hanging for about twenty days, in a warm, sunny 
situation where If possible the wind can also blow, but 
where there is freedom from dust. The persimmons should 
be squeezed and manipulated by hand every 4 or 5 days, so 
as to assist them in drying uniformly and prevent them 
from becoming hard in spots. After they have been drying 
thus for about three weeks, they are taken down strings 
and all and a cool place is selected where they are all 
put into a big heap and covered over with matting. They 
are now allowed to sweat for ten days, during which pro- 
cess a dry white powder of sugar forms itself on the sur- 
face of the fruits. When sufficiently cured they are hung 
up again for a couple of days, preferably in the wind, so 
