164 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 23, 1914, 



FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES. 



THE ATEMOYA, A NEW FRUIT FOR 



THE TROPICS. 



The interesting article which follows is by Mr. 

 P. J. Wester, Horticulturist in charge of the Lamao 

 Experiment Station, Philippines, and appears in the 

 Philippine Agricultural Review for February 1914. 

 It will prove of particular interest in connexion with 

 an article on the Cberimoya which was published in 

 the Agricultural News, Vol. XI, p. 388: — 



The acquaintance of the writer with the annonas dates 

 from 1898, when he first sampled the sugar apple (yl)J/io«a 

 squamosa. L.) in Florida, but more intimately since 1904, 

 when he fir.st attempted to utilize the mamon (A. ylahra, L.) 

 as a stock for the cberimoya {A. cherimoHa, Mill.). The 

 cherimoya has hitherto failed on its own roots in south 

 Florida, but it flourished grafted upon its vigorous relative. 



However, when the plant came into bloom it failed to 

 set fruit, and this led the writer to investigate the reason 

 for sterility, with the result that the entomophilous and 

 proterogynous characters of the flowers of this and related 

 species were discovered'". 



In the course of the pollination experiments that subse- 

 quently were carried on in connexion with the study of the 

 flowers, sugar apple and the cherimoya were hybridized. 



In coming to the Philippines, the writer brought with 

 him a few seeds thus obtained, which were sown in March 

 1911. The resultant hybrids made a most remarkable 

 growth, seemingly having the combined vigour of both parents, 

 and some plants attained a height of 2 3 metres in one year, 

 and blossomed at the age of sixteen months. The progress 

 of the reorganization work at the Lamao Experiment Station, 

 where the hybrids are growing, has twice necessitated trans- 

 plantation of some, notwithstanding which they have made 

 a most satisfactory growth. Because of the cutting back of 

 the plants attendant upon their transplanting, practically no 

 flowers appeared, and no fruits were expected this year. The 

 blossoming season of the cherimoya is somewhat in advance 

 of that of the custard apple, but owing perhaps in part to the 

 shock and retardation due to the transplanting, a few flowers 

 appeared in June on one of the transplanted hybrids. One 

 of these was pollinated with pollen from the custard apple 

 (.4. reticulata, L.) with the result that it set, and a fruit 

 developed and ripened, October 8. 



The following is a description of the fruit: Size small; 

 ■weight 280 grammes; length 7 7 cm., equatorial diameter 

 7'6 cm.; cordiform in shape, with prominent carpels and 

 areoles; exterior yellowish green, almost glabrous;- skin very 

 thick and tough; flesh white, tender, and melting, with 

 a slight trace of fibre, juicy, subacid, rich and aromatic; 

 flavour excellent, very similar to a good cherimoya with 

 a dash of the delicate sweetness of the sugar apple; seeds four 

 to seven, similar in shape to cherimoya seeds but darker 

 coloured. 



The fruit is rather small but regular and well shaped, 

 about the size of a sugar apple which was to be expected con- 

 sidering that the father parent, the cherimoya, was also 

 under-sized. With the employment of large-fruited cheri- 

 moyas for the breeding work we may also anticipate 



* Wester, P. J.: Pollination Experiments with Annonas. 

 Bui. Torrey, Bot. Club, 37: 629-39, 1910. 



a progeny with larger fruits. The 'giant' cherimoya has been 

 imported by the Bureau from Australia and will be used in 

 the annona breeding work as rapidly as the plants become 

 of age. A number of choice varieties have also been 

 presented to the Bureau by Mr. David Fairchild, agricul- 

 tural explorer in charge of the oftice of foreign seed and 

 plant introduction, Bureau of Plant Industry, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, which will be similarly employed. 



The atemoya plants, of which there are twenty three, 

 have not yet fruited, are very similar in appearance to the 

 cherimoya and the fruit is also practically identical with the 

 prominent-carpelled cherimoyas. 



Superior to the sugar apple, it is not claimed that the 

 atemoya is an improvement upon the cherimoya; but, as 

 pointed out in a previous issue of the Review, it has been 

 hoped that by crossing the cherimoya with the sugar apple 

 the excellent flavour of the .subtropical cherimoya, which 

 does not succeed well in the low altitudes near the equator, 

 might be imparted to the progeny, and that the other parent 

 from the lowlands would impart to it adaptability to 

 a tropical climate. It would seem that this anticipation has 

 been realized in the above instance. 



The seedlings that are being propagated from the fruit 

 described above are of course one half custard apple and a 

 quarter each cherimoya and sugar apple. It will be 

 exceedingly interesting to watch the results of this new 

 combination, and a new hybrid will be forced to fruit as 

 rapidly as possible. 



The name 'atemoya', which is here being proposed for 

 this new race of fruits, is derived from a combination of one 

 of the old original names of the sugar apple, Ate pannicensis, 

 quoted from Hermandez, in his work 'Xova Plantarum 

 Animalium Mineralium Mexicanorum Historia' published in 

 16.51, and cherimoya. 



As far as material permits, the fruit is being propagated 

 for distribution throughout the Philippines. 



THE CLOVE INDUSTRY IN ZANZIBAR. 



Brief reference was made to the onerous conditions 

 of the clove industry in Zanzibar in the last issue of 

 this journal. According to United Empire (April 

 1914) the supremacy hitherto held by Zanzibar in the 

 world's clove market is likely to be contested if prices 

 show a tendency to increase. Efforts may be expected 

 to arise in German East Africa and Madagascar, 

 amongst other places. The following information on 

 clove growing shows the distribution of the cultivation 

 in Zanzibar, and gives the yields that are generally 

 expected, together with a few facts concerning prices: — 



The Clove Tree (the Caryophyllus aromaticus) of 

 Linnaeus, indigenous to Moluccas, was brought from 

 Mauritius to Zanzibar about 1790, and probably much about 

 the same time introduced into Pemba, the environment of the 

 two islands proving so favourable for its cultivation that at 

 the present time some 58,000 acres containing about5,.500,000 

 trees, are taken up by the plantations. Out of this area over 

 38,000 acres are situated in Pemba, the latter therefore 

 yielding some 75 per cent, of the total output. The Zanzibar 

 plantations are, however, much younger than those of Pemba, 

 the former having an average age of some forty years and 

 some of the latter having records extending over ninety years. 

 The reason of this is that the cyclone of 1872 which devas- 

 tated Zanzibar destroying the trees hardly touched Pemba. 

 In Zanzibar the clove belt extends a distance of some 25 



