The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1895-09-19
JAPANESE FRUITS.
THE MOST PROLIFIC SOURCE OF
POPULAR NEW VARIETIES.
An Extensive Interchange OF vcge.
table Products Going on Between
This Country aud the Land
OF the Mikado.
United States Department
of Agriculture has rncnntlv

u COllCctlon OIL
japanese fruits-counter
feits, that is to say, executed most ar
tistically by the Professor of Horti.
culture in the University of Toxic.
This gentleman, whose name is Kizo.
Tamari, was educated in this country.
The models serve to illustrate the ex-
tensive interchange of such vegetable
products that has been going on dur
ing the last few years between the
United States and the Empire of the
Mikado. Many of the finest varieties
now on our market have been obtained
from there, while not few American
fruits are being cultivated largely in
the land OF the rising sun. For ex-
ample, Japan has no apples that are
good for anything; but apples from
New England are being grown in such
quantities on the Island Of Yezo- the
northernmost of the japanese group
as to have become an important COM
mercial article.
The climates of Japan and the
United States are much alike, and any
plant native to one country seems to
] dHlOulHuluVlN.
From our point of view, just now that
far Asiatic archipelago is the most
prolific source of profitable new types
of fruits, rs well as OF hardy ornamen.
tai plants. In 1853 two naturalists
named Williams and Morrow, who ac.
companied Commodore Perry's ex-
pedition, secured and brought back
with them many japanese plants;
while others we're collected subse.
quently by Charles Wright, who made
the trip with Commodore Rodgers in
1855. These collections we're submit.
ted for study to Professor Asa Gray,
the famous botanist. He was much
struck with the similarity between the
fora of Japan and that of the Allie
gheny region of North America. The
theory on the subject which he then
published is accepted 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
period supervened, during which the
climate was much warmer than il is at
present. The sea was 500 feet above
its present level, and the rivers were
vastly larger than they are now. Ele-
! plants and rhinoceroses roamed over
Canada and as far as the shores of the
Arctic Ocean, while mastodons, buff
fatA al l. hal 81
high latitudes. 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 hemi-
spheres became intermingled.
Meanwhile the terrace epoch came
slowly on. The Arctic lands were ele-
vated, the waters receded and the tenn
perature fell. The age during which
Greenland had n semi-tropical fora.
when, as has been said, an Eden might
have been planted in Spitzbergen-
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 CORE
spondence between those Of Japan of
to-day and their congeners 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 the United States from Connecticut
to Florida. The Japanese have a
huge white clingstone peach, which,
though it does not lock ut all like any
of our varieties, is extremely delic.
ious. They got it from China, how
ever. This Is to-day the leading
market peach of Georgia. Some years
ago DR.. S. III. Rumph, of Marshall.
vile, Ga, planted about 10, 900 of the
stones, from which he got as many
Seeding trees. From the lot he chose
two that bore the finest fruit, event
ually discarding one of them. The
other was the parent of the Elberta
variety, which has since become IA
nous. DIR. Rumph has already sold
$50, 900 worth of these peaches, hun.
dreds of car loads of which will be
shipped out of Georgia this season.
Another japanese peach, also origi
nally from China, is the Peento. 1t il
cultivated to considerable extent in
Florida, but blooms top early for a
higher latitude. Two or three bright
days at any time in winter will bring
out the blossoms. Some of the trees
have been planted in Maryland, but,
for the reason mentioned, they never
bear fruit. Speaking of plums, the
Japanese grow certain varieties fol
the blossoms alone. They are ex
tremely fond of spring flowers, and
festivals are held annually to celebrate
the blossoming of the plum and thu
cherry. The fruit of those blossom
producing varieties is scrid anC
of small account. Plums in genera
in Japan are not valued for eating
fresh; they are picked green usually