Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1895-09-21
FRUITS OF JAPAN.
Natures Luxurics Ubialncd from the Land
of the Mi.udO.


of the MisudO.
The department al agriculture has
recently acquired n collection of Jap
ancsc fruits-counterfeits. that is to
say, executed most artstically by the
professor of horticulture in the Uni
versity of Toxic. This gentleman.
whose name Is KiZo-Tamari, was edu-
Gated in this country. The models
serve To Illustrate tine extensive inter-
change Of such vegetable pro iucts
that has been going on lnrin. the last
few years between the Ulitcl states
and the empire OF the miil 10. Many
of the finest varieties nov on our mar
kct have been OBTAINED from there.
while not n few American fruits are
being cultivated largely ia the land of
the risinr sun For example, Japan
has m apples that n, opl for any
thing: but apples from New England
are being grown in such quantities on
the island of YcaD--th' nIrthcrAmpst of
the Japanese group-.uS 10 have become
an important commercial article.
The climates OF Japan ana the Unit
ed States are much alike. AMI any
plant native to one country seem, to
thrive in the other ,toniShiagly.
From our point of view, just now. that
far Asiatic archipelago is the most
prolific source of profitable new types
Of fruits. rs well rs of hardy orna-
mental plants. In 1853 two naturalists
named Williams anl Morrow, who ac-
companied Commodore Perry's cxpedi-
ton, secured and brought back with
them many Japanese plants: while
Others were collected subsequently by
Charles Wright, who made the trip
with Commo lore Rol gcrs in lSj5.
study to Prof Asa Gray, the famous
botanist lie was much struck with
the similarity between the il)ra of Ja-
pan and that of the Allegheny region
of North America. The theory on the
subject which he then published is ac-
cepted to-day as the true one.
During the great glacial epoch the
northern part of this continent was
covered by sheet OF ice which ex-
tended as far to the south rs Philadel-
phia and ST Louis. When this sheet
was withdrawn the so-called huvial
period supcrvencd, during which the
climate was much warmer than 1t is mt
present The sen was five hundred
feet above its present level, and the
rivers were vastly larger than they are
now. Elephants and rhinoceroses
roamed over Canada and as far as the
shores of the Arctic ocean, while mas
todons, buffaloes, lions, ellss and horses
inhabited high ATTITUDES Alaska and
northeast Asia were connected by land,
and the Siberian elephant wandered
from one continent to the other. At
the same time the plant life of the two
hemispheres became intermingled.
Meanwhile the terrace epoch came
slowly on. The arctic lands were ele-
waited, the waters recedei and the tenn
perature fell. The age during which
Greenland had q semi-tropical fora,
when, rs Inns been said, an Eden might
have been planted In Spltzbergen--
vanished and the earth approached its
present condition. The vegetation OF
all sorts was driven southwark through
Asia and America. The plants. pushed
down from the north on all sides of
the globe. held on In similar climates;
hence the correspondence between
those Of Japan OF to-day and their con-
geners In this part Of the world
From japan we have obtained our
finest varieties of plums, and these are
planted all over the eastern part Of tho
United States from Connecticut to
Florida The Japanese have huge
white clingstone peach. which, though
Il does not look ut all like any Of our
varieties, Is extremely delicious. They
got Il from China, however. This De
to-day the leading market peach of
Georgia 5,q..,, ~ d. yt III
Another Japanese peach, also orlgi.
nally from China, Is the Peento Il H.
cultivated to . considerable extent In
Florida. but blooms too early for .