XX MISCELLANEOUS FRUITS BESIDES the staple fruits of the temperate regions of North America, which are discussed more fully in this book, there are a great many species of lesser importance which can be noticed here only in the most general and summary manner. A large number of these secondary fruits are actually grown, and are familiar to the ordinary person. The quince, the apricot, and the chestnut may serve as examples of this class. Other species are of secondary interest to us, more because they are grown outside the limits of our customary geography. All the tropical and subtropical fruits are of this class. Certain of them, as the orange, for instance, are of great commercial importance in their proper latitude, and deserve as careful study from the men who grow them as the apple or the strawberry deserves from the fruit growers of Massachusetts or Ohio. But, as we have said, these fruits, for one reason or another, are of only incidental interest to the average pomologist; and it seems necessary, for practical reasons, to take advantage of this fact by lumping them all off together in a single chapter. In case any pomologist should undertake a special study of any of these secondary fruits, he would naturally apply to them the same general methods which are here outlined for apples, pears, and peaches. He could devise some regular form of description which would assist him materially in keeping record of his observations. He would apply to the different varieties in hand the same rules of nomenclature which have been found essential in dealing with other groups of fruits. And, finally, he would classify the varieties under survey, according to the principles laid down in Chapter XIII of this book. So far as the writer knows, no special form of description has ever been used in this country for any of the fruits discussed in the present chapter, nor has any classification of the varieties in any group been proposed beyond what is here set forth. The quince is closely related to the apple and pear. It may be described on the same blank form used for pears, or even on the one used for apples. There are only a few varie ties, hardly enough to warrant any classification, and these few all belong to one species. Though the fruits of the Japanese quince (Cydonia japonica) and of Maule's quince (C. maulei) are edible, they are not of enough culinary value to have been recognized by fruit growers or fruit dealers. The medlar is a fruit mentioned in all the old European books on pomology and in most of the early American works, which were largely copied from the European. The medlar stands nearly midway between the quince and the hawthorns, having a sour fruit one to two inches in diameter. A number of varieties have received names, and have been perpetuated by grafting or budding. The tree or bush is perfectly hardy and fruitful in the middle latitudes of North America, but probably not one fruit grower among one hundred ever saw the plant, and not one in five hundred ever saw the fruit. The loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), sometimes erroneously called the Japanese medlar, and still more mischievously known as the Japan plum, is now considerably planted from Florida west to Texas, and the fruit comes somewhat regularly to northern markets in the early spring. It is a small ovoid, pleasantly acid fruit, a trifle smaller than a guineahen's egg. It shows the same tendency to variation which has given origin to our numerous varieties of strawberries and oranges, but as yet this tendency has not been taken advantage of for the establishment of distinct sorts through bud propagation. The apricot stands nearly midway between the peach and the plum, being, perhaps, a little more like the former. It may be described according to the same formula applied to peaches; and almost exactly the same range of descriptive adjectives would be brought into play. There are two or three different species of trees which bear apricots, and the varieties would naturally be classified first by referring them to these parent species; or the varieties could be arbitrarily classified, as peaches sometimes are. The nectarine is the offspring of the peach, and so closely related to it that peaches and nectarines not infrequently grow on the same tree (without being separately budded in). In systematic pomology the nectarine is to be treated exactly like the peach. Mulberries come from trees of several dif ferent species, and this gives a botanical basis. for their classification. They would be described after much the same pattern as that applied to blackberries and dewberries. They are so seldom cultivated for fruit in this country that they are hardly worth mentioning. It The persimmon is a delicacy of high repute among those persons who know it best. already has some small place in our best fruit markets, and we may fairly expect that it will increase in commercial importance as time goes on. Several attempts have been made to cultivate persimmons in orchards, and these attempts have met with reasonable success. The persimmon is much unlike any of the other fruits which we have been considering, and would require a special scheme for its description. The varieties, of which a considerable number are recognized, are almost universally separated into two groups, according to their botanical pedigree. Some are known as native persimmons, having originated from the American species. The others are known as Japanese persimmons or kakis, and are developed from another species, a native of the Orient. The varieties are also |