Where Persimmon Was King

When Palemon Howard Dorsett visited persimmon orchards north of Peking (Peiping), China in 1924-31, he found an amazing horticultural operation. He and his son, James, first explored the region in 1924-5, and he returned there in l930-31. Dorsett was a U. S. Department of Agriculture plant explorer assigned to locate and collect plants, seeds, and scions that might be useful as crops or in crop breeding in the U.S. He was also an expert photographer. The significance of his findings have not yet been recognized by most persimmon afficionados and many horticulturists in the U.S. Now, with the assistance of the National Agricultural Library where boxes of Dorsett’s photographs and records are organized, William Preston, in Where Persimmon Was King not only recreates Dorsett’s travels to the extensive persimmon growing region north of Peiping (now Beijing), but also describes the most important situations and practices that Dorsett observed. By reproducing both Dorsett’s photographs and his narrative in Where Persimmon Was King, Preston gives the reader an unparalleled view of the phenomenal effort made by the Chinese to establish, grow, and sell persimmons (Diospyros kaki) for the markets in local population centers, principally in and around Peking. William H. Preston brings us a classic work about a memorable undertaking.