The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1879-05-21
Treatment and Varieties of the
Japanese PersimmOn.

ued by the people; so much so, in
deed, that you cannot find farmer
without his Kaki trees. It is the
same way with those who are not
farmers, and have only small piece
OF ground; you will,see several Kaki
trees planted in some out of the way
corner where nothing else will grow.
The farmers generally plant them in
the outskirts of their land, and under
hills, 80 that they may not get blown
about too much. They are seldom
or never MANFRED, or given any at
tention. / have known trees to have
stood in the same place ever since /
have been in Japan, which has been
fifteen years, and I have taken par
ticular notice of these. They have
been lett to grow at will, and they
seem to like it I may add that
where there are large plantations Of
Kakis, the ground is alwayscultivated
aud other crops grown under them.
Sometimes barley, turnips, ETC., are
sown, but mostly the Kakis are
planted on the side of the farm, or in
the rear ofthe houses, and am posi-
tive, that the trees Ispeak Of have had
nothing done to them,
The reason for not pruning is a
very good one. IT the last years
shoots were cut off, there would be
no fruit the following year. The
flower comes out after the leaf and
forms in the bases of the leaf, and
the flower bud forms itself the au-
tumn before, so that, as have stated
before, if you were to prune the trees
you would lose all the fruit for that
year.
The Kaki will grow in any place,
and I believe in any climate, for /
find that in the most northern parts
of Japan there are very fine Kakis.
The finest variety that l know of is
the Hyakume, or, in other words,
the one pound persimmon that is,
the fruit will weigh one pound. This
kind is found to be the best to grow
in the north of Japan. In some OF
the places where this grows, such as
Koshu, Nicko, Idzsu, Konga, ETC., the
cold weather commences in October,
the snow falls in November and
lasts till March, and sometimes till
April, an1ket you will find the per-
stsnori d # sa itlR i; IL be, =
cold regions in all its beauty. Large
Kaki trees in tnll leaf look very pref
ty, and you can make very nice
seat in Summer time under them, as,
when they get to large size, they
have a dropping form. and when
they come into fruit they look very
pretty indeed with their beautiful,
red fruit lying in amongst the green,
glossy foliage.
The earliest truiting variety Is the
Among. This is one of the astrin-
gent kinds, which cannot be eaten
from the tree, but has to be put up
in casks or tubs, and done up perfect
ly air tight for eighteen or twenty
days, when they lose all their as
taingency, and become mellow and
sweet. The natives always use tor
this purpose old wine casks-tbat is,
the japanese saki tubs. They never
put them in new tubs; they have an
idea that unless the tubs have been
used for wine the Kakis will not be
good. I believe, however, that this
kind, like the remainder, ii left on
the tree until perfectly ripe, would
lose Its astringency also.
The next that comes is the Ziugi.
This is very nice fruit, not large
and not so bright color as the 9TH
ers, and it is very seldom or ever al
lowed to get soft, for as soon as it
gets soft it commences to rot, but 1t
must be ripe before gathering, or like
most of the other kinds, it will be as
tringent.
Then comes the Kurokuni, the
largest round one, and this must
hang on the tree until it is soft; the
remainder of the varieties come in
about the same time. The Haycheya
is the largest oblong fruit, and it is a
splendid fruit. when ripe, but must
be perfectly soft before being gath
cred. The Die Die Maru is a very
fine fruit also, but, like the Hay
cheya, it must be perfectly ripe be-
fore gathering.
There are several other kinds, but
they are OF no Importance, for they
do not differ from these in the shape
or in size, and they are not distinct
enough to be recognized as different
varieties The above names are the
best varieties in Japan, and they are
the only ones would advise any one