The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1912-04-04

distributed to prospective planters
suckers as they grow. This Accomplishment
of the Department of Agriculture is not the re-
suit of any one mans effort, but the product
OF at least dozen minds working over pc
riod of 20 years and in seven different coun-
tries
There are among these hundred varieties
those which candy on the tree, others which
are used mainly for cooking, and some which
are hard and not sticky There are early
varieties and late-rpening ones, varieties short
and long, and every sort can be told by the
grooves on its seeds.
The date as delicacy is known to every
American child, but, as food. remains to be
discovered by the American public. When
the date plantations of Arizona and California
come into full bearing, as they should In
about ten years, the hard dry dates, for ex-
ample now quite unknown on our markets
are sure to come into prominence and find
their way to the tables of the poor as well as
of the rich The heat Of our American sum
mers Is forcing us to study the hot-weather
diets of other countries, and dates are sure TO
become important items of food.
The persimmon of the South, on which the
opossum fattens is very different fruit from
its relative the kaki, or persimmon OF the
Orient. the growing of which is so great an
Industry in Japan as to nearly equal the Jap
anese orange-growing industry in Importance.
Our persimmon is a wild fruit, which will
some day be domesticated, while the kaki has
been cultivated SO long that 1t is represented
nv different forms and, colors. 1t is true that
the Oriental persimmon has been grown in this
country in fact the census records a produc-
tion of 6S tons; but this is scarcely a begin
ming as compared with the $4,000 tons which
is the output of japan.
We have misunderstood the persimmon. Our
own wild ones can eat only after they have
been touched by the frost and the imported
Jananese ones we have left until they become
soft and mushy and almost on the verge of
decay, We never thought until quite recently
of wondering whether III a land where the
persimmon had been cultivated for centuries
they would not have worked out some artif-
cial method for. removing the Objectionable
quicker In japan we find this is done by
packing the fruit in barrels saturated with
sake and Mr.. H. G. Gore, of the Department
Of Agriculture, is now working out new meth
DDS of processing the Oriental persimmon, so
that it can be eaten when hard as an apple
and there will no longer be any reason why ii
should not take its place among the great
fruits of the country.
The whole question of the Improvement Of
the persimmon has been opened up and we
are getting for this work the small-fruited spe-
cies called lotus from Algeria; tropical
species with white, cheeselike pulp, from Man.
ila Mexico Erthea, and Rhodesia: species
from Bangalore, from Sydney, from Madras
from the Nankau Pass, in China and from the
Caucasus.
If the Oriental timber bamboo had produced
seeds oftener than once in 40 years it would
long ago have been introduced and be now
growing in the South. The fact that it had
to be brought in the form of living
plants, and that these plants required special
treatment, has stood in the way of the quick
distribution of this most important plant
throughout those portions of America where it
will grow. After several unsuccessful at
tempts, beginning has at last been made, and
the department has grove of Oriental bam-
boos in northern Florida, and search is be-
ing made in different parts of the world for
all those species which are adapted to our
climate.
In this country | predict it will be used
earliest for barrel hoops, for cheap irrigating
pipes, for vine-stakes and trellises for light
ladders and stays for overloaded fruit trees,
for baskets and light fruit shipping crates and
for food. AS wfnd-breaks and to hold canal
banks and prevent the erosion of steep hill
sides. there are species which excel all other
plants, while for light furniture and jalousies
it is sure to find market whenever the green
timber is available