Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1911-08-27

most expert of agricultural explorers has dfscovA
cred which is seedless q navel orange which
has pucker, and can be eaten when green and hard
1t is known the Tsmopan persImmon and was
found, believe, somewhere near the Ming Tombs.
north of Peking in climate colder than any Of our
states of the south He has sent cuttings which will
be grated persmmon trees and It may be that
this fruit will some day be almost common ap-
pies. The trees said to be hardy. They bear so
heavily that the limbs break and they last for forty
fifty years before the fruit fails
There many other persimmons in Asia which
have seeds but they all grow large and they
of the most common fruits in the markets. The
tives have method of taking out the astringency
pucker by leaving the fruit several days in a cask
tub which has once contained sprituous liquor. The
effect of the liquor which is soaked into the wood
seems to take out the quicker. We raising
Japanese persimmons in Florida where the crop
is said to be commercially profitable. There is
doubt that the fruit be wherever native
persimmon now thrives, and it is probable In many
places much farther north.
Frank Meyers Work. N2;FfFggEEiSaN
Indeed, it is impossible to estimate the value Of
our agricultural explorations. They cost compare
lively little, but they yield bigger dividends than any
other money appropriated by congress.
Take, for instance, the work of Frank N. Meyer,
the man who has sent US the persimmons have Just
mentioned He is in Chinese Turkestan west Of
Tibet travelling foot and camels looking up
plants ad seeds for arid lands He receives, all
told, something like $1,000 year. and out Of this
pays his travelling expenses doing the work more as
enthusiast and for the good of the country than
as a Of making living He is of the most
famous of botansts and plant experts and, like
Powell, who recently belonged to the same bureau,
he could easily command a salary Of $40 900 a year
If he chose to leave the department
Mr. Meyer has travelled all China, Manchuria
and Siberia, sending fruits, and grains
In addition 10 the persimmon he has given us score
teaches, which being tested
Some of these large navel oranges others
have 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 of all shades, from green and yellow TO =
rich, rosy red.
Mr. Meyer has sent in many aprcots from China
and wild apricots from Manchuria and northern Korea
which will stand cold and drouth than anything
have. Some of these apricots have been sue
cessfully tested at Boston, and far north
Wisconsin
We indebted to Mr.. Meyer. also for new Chinese
varieties of plums, cherries ounces and apples as
we'll for other fruits which the department expects
will be grown in different parts OF the country One
OF the most important of the latter the jujube the
fruit of which is not unlike dates can be eaten
The jujube will grow in akali soil, and II is well
adapted to some Of the dry lands OF the west
FRANK q. CARPENTER.