. The American fruit culturist. ring on the Gulf of Mexico, and oc-curring more sparingly as we approach the latitude of New York,its northern limit. Wood close-grained and hard, dark yellow oralmost black. Trees often dioecious, with ovate oblong leaves andpale yellow flowers. Fruit reddish-yellow, resembling a plum,containing eight or ten flattened oval seeds; sweet, melting, anddelicious when ripe, but horribly astringent previous to maturity. In the latitude of Virginia it does not ripen before frost,hence the belief that the action of frost is necessary to itsamelioration, but farther sou
. The American fruit culturist. ring on the Gulf of Mexico, and oc-curring more sparingly as we approach the latitude of New York,its northern limit. Wood close-grained and hard, dark yellow oralmost black. Trees often dioecious, with ovate oblong leaves andpale yellow flowers. Fruit reddish-yellow, resembling a plum,containing eight or ten flattened oval seeds; sweet, melting, anddelicious when ripe, but horribly astringent previous to maturity. In the latitude of Virginia it does not ripen before frost,hence the belief that the action of frost is necessary to itsamelioration, but farther south the long warm summers ac-complish the same result, bringing it to the highest degree ofperfection before cool weather. So far nothing has been donein the United States to improve this fruit, except the oc- 669 670 THE PERSIMMON. casional selection of a wild tree whose product was of betterquality than usual. [The illustration (Fig. 817) shows the usual appearance ofthe wild persimmon, and Fig. 818 of one which has been care-. FiG. 817—Virginia Persimmon. fully cultivated. The American persimmon is entirely hardyat least fifty miles north of New York City, and will bearfull crops annually. While in the Southern States it is saidto be easy to transplant, it is farther north quite It is not an easy tree to transplant, its long tap-root be-ing intolerant of molestation; saplings two to three feethigh may be moved, however, with fair prospect of success. The hole in which they areto be placed should be dugout fully three feet dsep,and the original earth re-placed with good surfacesoil. Do not give them upif they do not put out a leafthe first season. I havehad them start and growwell the second tree is dioecious, andunless one has a numberof them, the only sure wayto get fruit is to insert agraft from a male tree oila female, which will in a year or two furnish sufficient pollento fertilize the entire tree. It bears at six to eight yearsfrom seed. (Grafti
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