I've never heard of them being described as sour, but rather as astringent. That is, if they aren't ripe, they make your mouth pucker in a way very different than say, a lemon. Perhaps some people use those words interchangeably. In any case, a ripe persimmon is quite sweet. I've heard that the fruit from some trees never really loses the astringency, and if that's what someone has had, I can believe that they would avoid them afterwards. I don't know the ratio of male to female that you will get from seed. I planted persimmon seeds for the first time this year. I collected them last fall, kept them in a zip-loc bag with moist peat moss in the fridge over the winter, then planted in the spring. They didn't all germinate, but I'd say more than half did. The tallest of them is over 3 feet tall. Alex

Perhaps Graham Thomas, hybridized by David Austin. Many "Austins" (as roses hybridized by Mr. Austin are called) shatter, or lose petals, quickly after opening. If you want to cut them to bring inside, cut while they buds are still tight, you might get it to last a day or two. Here is a link that might be useful: Graham Thomas info at Helpmefind.com

Your sister's furniture is absolutely lovely! I'll bet she's thrilled. I'd say the dates you're getting here sound about right, 1920-1930ish. It does have an Art Nouveau flair. Here are two that may interest you: This one is more deco than hers: http://www.french-warehouse.com/FW1365.htm This one is more true art nouveau and is dated much earlier: http://www.burchardgalleries.com/auctions/2004/oct1704/01images/l8.htm

When I was a kid I grew up on my Grandfathers dairy farm in N.E.Ohio and although we did have tractors we did most of our farm work the old way with horse drawn equipment in the same way the Amish do today. With 45 cows, 13 draft horses, sheep, hogs, chickens and a number of young heifers coming up we had to grow over 30 acres of hard yellow dent corn to produce feed for the animals. In the spring when we were planting the corn Grandmother used to give us two or three large 3# coffee cans of squash and pumpkin seeds and as we filled the seed hoppers on the corn planter we would toss in a handful of Grandmas seeds. In the fall we cut the corn with a single row corn binder that cut the corn and tied it in bundles, which were then dropped on the ground, and we later had to stand all those bundles up into corn shocks were it stood in the field to dry until we could haul it a load or two a day to the barn to be husked. When the men were cutting the corn with the binder us boys had to run a couple rows ahead of the binder and find the pumpkins & squash, pick them and set them out in the cut part of the field so they wouldn't get run over by the binder then we had to hitch a team of horses to a box wagon and haul all the pumpkins and squash to the house and store them in the root cellar. In a typical year we would produce upwards of two tons of pumpkins and various varieties of squash, which were primarily Hubbards (which us boys affectionately called "HUBBUBS"), Acorn squash, Turbin Squash and Butternut squash and sometimes a few gourds which were used as decorations, cut into dippers or holes drilled in the sides and hung as bird houses. Needless to say, throughout the fall and winter squash was a mainstay of our diet in the same manner as potatoes and Grandmother knew dozens of different ways to cook them. For hubbards & butternut squash she primarily would cut them in half lengthwise, clean the seads out then steam or boil them, scoup the meat out of the shell, add butter and a touch of nutmeg and mash them and serve in the same manner as mashed potatoes (only no milk). If Grandmother was feeling exceptionally ambitious she would sometimes make a squash pie in the same manner as making a pumpkin pie and on rare occasions she would make an indian pudding from the squash. For the turbins and acorns she would cut them lengthwise, clean the seeds out, then place them face down on a cookie sheet with a bit of water and bake about 40 minutes in a moderate oven, then turn them right side up and put butter & honey in the cavity and bake another 15 to 20 minutes. But my abolute favorite way of fixing acorns came in late November right after we butchered hogs..Grandmother would cut acorns lengthwise, clean the seeds out, then stuff the cavity with pork sausage and bake for an hour. To this day that remains my favorite way to fix acorn squash.