The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-27

| food for his American children. New l seeds and plants are coming in daily by | express freight and mall ana III sohe | cases the importations weigh tons among | the results already accomplished we nave | now the largest collection of date va
 ,Ieties known, They are growing in the gardens of Arizona and California. We have also the greatest varieties of man goes extant and we are testing that fruit with a view to the introduction into flor- ida Porto Rico and Hawai-. We nave French artichokes now growing In the
 truck gardens of the south, hanlr corn
 fl om Abyssinia, which is being tested In
 Kansas. and new kind of oats from
 northern Finland, which is being grown
 in Alaska We have new alfalfas from
 Arabia and Chinese Turkestan. We are
 starting a sisal hemp industry Tn Porto Rico and we are growing Japanese pam
 boos. which it is thought, take the place of the old cane brakes of the south. We have also a valuable paper plant from Japan wood oil trees from China, and are sending out, in California hundreds of plants which it is thought will make varnsh. We have also pedigreed par lev which is especially desired by the brewers and altogether so many other fruits, grains and trees that to mention them would be like quoting botany.
 Persimmons as Big as Baseballs Among the fruits in which the depart
 ment is especially interested just now IS the persimmon. Not the little persimmon as big as walnut which grows In our south, but the Japanese, Chinese ana NO rean persimmons which are as big as ba seballs or larger. I have eaten them in all of these countries and l verify be- lieve they are the most delicious fruit upon earth Some kinds look like mann moth tomatoes, and when ripe are so SOIL they can be scooped up with spoon. | Others are eaten while still hard like ap- pes, and others are frozen and served | liI6e a sherbet or Roman punch.
 | These Asiatic persimmons are peauu- | fin, They are sometimes of an orange red color, measuring from three to hVe inches in diameter, and often weighing
 more than a pound. MT. Frank N. Meyer, | one of the most expert of our aSricultu- ral explorers, has discovered one whicn | is as seedless as a navel orange. Whlch
 has no quicker and can be eaten when
 green and hard It is known as the
 Tamopan persimmon and was found, 1 Ibelieve. somewhere near the Ming Tomos, north of Pekin in a climate colder than any of our states of the south. He has sent cuttings which will be srafted on | our persmmon trees, and 1t may De thhe
 this fruit will some day be almost as
 common as apples The trees are said
 to be hardy. They bear so heavily that i the limos Dredk, anu they idSl loa "
 or 50 years before the fruit falls.
 | There are many other persimmons in | Asia which have seeds. but they all grow large and they are one of the most com
 mon fruits in the markets. The natives | have a method of taking out the astrin-
 gency or quicker by leaving the fruit
 several days in cask or tub which has
 once contained a spirituous liquor. The effect of the liquor which is soaked into ta1rA flao
 We are now raising some Japanese per
 simmons In Florida, where the crop is | said to be commercially profitable. There l Is no doubt that the fruit can be Brow7 wherever our native persimmon now
 tbrives, and it is probable In many places
 much farther north.
 | Frank Meyers Work
 | Indeed, 1t is impossible to estimate the | value of our agricultural explorations.
 They cost us comparatively little. but | they yield bigger dividends than any other money appropriated by Congress- 1 Take for instance, the work of Frank | N Meyer, the man who has sent us the
 persimmons l have just mentioned He | is now in Chinese Turkestan. west of
 Tibet, travelling on foot and on camels. 1 looking up new plants and seeds Tor arid
 lands. He receives, all told. something | like SJO00 a year ,and out of this pays his | travelling expenses, doing the work more | as an enthusiast and for the good of the | country than as a means of making a | living He is one of the most famous of | our botanists and plant experts and like Powell who recently belonged to the same bureau, he could easily command a salary of $10,O0O year If he chose 10 leave the department.
 Mir Meyer has travelled all oyer China, Manchuria and Siberia sending us new fruits, nuts and grains. In addition to the persmmon. he has given us score or more new peaches, which are now be- ing tested Some of these are as large as naval oranges; others have a flesh which is blood red, looking more like that of beet root than anything else. He has sent in the so-called honey peach, which grows in Shantung. and the beef peach of Shansi, which looks like raw meat. Some of the peaches now being tested are flat and they are of all shades from green and yellow to rich rosy red.
 Mir. Never has sent in many apricots from China, and wild apricots from Man churia and northern Korea, which will
 stand more cold and drouth than any thing we now have. Some of these april cots have been successfully tested at Boston and some even as far north as Wisconsin.
 We are indebted to Mir. Meyer also for new Chinese varieties of plums, cherries, ouinces and apples, as well as for other fruits which the department expects Will be grown in different parts of the coun- try. One of the most important of the latter Is the jujube. the fruit of which is not unlike dates and can be eaten fresh,
 dried and preserved, and also stewed or
 smoked The jujube will grow in an aka II soil. and 1t is well adapted to some of the dry lands of the west.