The Detroit times., 1913-10-20
RAYMOND w. PULLMAN.
Times Washington BureGw, No.
Metropolitan B0nk Building.

The puckerless persimmon, which
most people have read about put few
have seem and
Puckerlsss tasted, will be one
PersImmon. of the features OF
the exhibit to be
held In connection with the meeting
of the American Pomological society
In Washington. beginning Nov. IL.
Although the large oriental persim.
mon was called to the attention OF
Americans more than 30 years ago
by the Japanese, men of the Ameri'
can fruit industry have given 1t com
paratively little attention. as Is indi'
Gated by the fact that perhaps SO per
cent of the people OF this country
have never seen or tasted the hard.
delicious persimmon. which Is one OF
the principal fruits Of the orient.
Japanese and Chinese persimmons
have been grown In America for
some years. but little progress has
been made IN the art Of processing,
or treating them by a. method which
removes the quicker" and makes 1t
possible to eat the fruit while II Is
hard as an apple. instead Of waiting
until II is soft and mushy and near
decay, as Is the case with most per-
simmons which comes to the Amerl'
can market
When the men who are famous In
the science OF fruit growing meet in
Washington In November they will
be given an excellent opportunity to
sample several crates OF choice puck
erless persimmons, for the shipment
and PREPARATION Of which experts In
the United States DEPARTMENT Of agri
culture have arranged with Harold
Fl. Hume, a large fruit grower, with
] orchards at Glen ST. Mary's. Fla.
The growing and preparation fol
market OF persimmons without quicker
Is distinctly an oriental fruit indus
try. The Japanese for years have
grown persimmons nearly as large al
apples. and processed them by putting
the fruit in casks which formerly hat
been used to hold Sake" or rice beer
which is one Of the intoxicating drink.
Of the islsnd nation. The storing OF
the fruit In the sake casks has the
peculiar efYe"t Of removing the puck
er, the taste which Is given by the
breaking of the small cells Of tannir
which the fruit contains. This meth
Cd OF processing was first called Il
the attention Of Americans by the late
DR.. S. A. KNAPP after trip made
to japan In 1899 Until 1906, how
ever, experiments in processing In
this country were not tried, and since
that time progress In the work hal
been slow
After the Japanese processing sys
tenn was called to the attention o
fruit growers In this country. Franz
N. Meyer. an agricultural explorer II
the department Of agriculture, dis
covered In China a puckerless per
simmon which could be eaten har'
and which did not have to be prc
cessed. Varieties of this persimmo
have been introduced into this cour
try. but experiments made so IA
have shown that the fruit has a pucl
er or astringent quality when grow
In the United States, unlike the prt
duct Of the Chinese growers. II
thought, however, that this pucker
dre to the fact that the Chinese tree
were fertilixed by the pollen from tn
native American persimmon tree,
and experiments will be conducted I
growing the Chinese trees In orchard
away from the vicinity OF the ord
nary American persimmon, the pucl
cry taste Of which before It is rip
and IL touched by frost IL familia
to most persons.
The immigrant persimmons, whic
the pomologists will be shown whe
they meet in Washington. will
processed by the American metho
developed by DR.. H. c. Gore. Of tn
division Of foods Of the bureau {
chemistry, who conducted a series {
investigations In cooperation wit
David Fairchild, In charge Of the o.
fce Of foreign seed and plant Intro
drction Of the department of agricu
ture. The American process cor
sists Of the use Of cvrbonic acid gas
Instead Of the use q Japanese sake
and the use Of dried starch to prt
vent cracking Of the fruit while
Is in the course Of being processed.
I The scientists who are interests
! In tie fruit industry, who will atten
the meeting Of the American Pomolos
zeal society, will be more intereste,
IN the puckerless persimmon this yea
than perhaps ever before, becaus,
of the growing demand for this frui
on the American market. A persim
mon nurseryman last year reporte,
the sale OF $4,000 small persimmol
trees. which II an indication tina
Americans are interested In the cul
tivation Of the fruit and that furthe
progress In the way OF processing
them and removing the pucker will
surely be made as the industry is de
veloped In this country.