116 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS, 



April 8, 1916. 



FRUIT AND FRUIT PRODUCTS. 



IMPROVEMENT OF TROPICAL FRUIT 

 IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



The Work done V>y ihe I'.ureau of Agriculture iu tlie 

 Philippine Islands is of the highest utility and interest in 

 ETery department of tropical agriculture. A very striking 

 feature of the work done by this department is the attention 

 that i.s being paid to the scientific development of the quality 

 of all sorts of tropical fruits by selection and grafting. 



In the Fliilippine Agricul'ural Review for the second 

 quarter, 191-5, there is an account of the working of the 

 Laniao Experiment Station, in which the section deiling 

 •with the results obtained in budding and grafting various 

 tropical fruit trees is not only interesting but highly instrilc- 

 tive to planters of orchards in the tropics. 



The writer of the account referred to, Mr. P. ,J. Wester, 

 Horticulturist in charge of the Station, states that there are 

 cultivated there no less than ninety-three species of the less 

 known tropical fruits, of which he gives a list, for the purposes 

 of experiment. This does not include citrus fruits, mangoes, 

 avocados, pine-apples, papaws, or grapes, all of which are also 

 the subjects of scientific research in the Station. 



Some striking results have been obtained by budding ths 

 delicious cherimoya (Anona cherimolia) on stocks of the 

 monkey apple, A. palustris (glabra). The hybrid produced 

 by crossing the cherimoya with the sugar-apple {A. squantoKa) 

 to which the name 'atemoya' has been given, has proved 

 a success. This hybrid has again been crossed with the 

 custard apple (.4. nmricata), and with the soijrsop 

 {A . Muricaia), and the fruiting of the resultant seedlings is 

 awaited with interest. The seedlings of this last cross are 

 rejiorted to be exceptionally vigorous. 



With a view of making the propagation of superior 

 individual trees possible, great attention is paid to budding 

 and grafting, the method found most desirable in dealing 

 with tropical fruit trees being what is known as shield 

 budding. In this way there have been established sweet 

 varieties of those intensely sour fruits the carambola and 

 the bilinibi {Averrhoa carainliola and A. Inlimbi), which have 

 been introduced into the West Indies in their sour form, and 

 are used to make pickles. 



In the course of these budding experiments some 

 considerations of great piuctical value to tropical horti- 

 culturists seem to have been (-stablished. Mr. Wester 

 remarks that in order to obtain a successful result in budding 

 of some species, it is found necessary to remove the leaves 

 from the bud-wood whik^ stilJ on the parent tree, sufticiently 

 in advance of the performance of the budding to permit of 

 the formation of a well-healed leaf scar; in other species one 

 of the essential points is that the bud-wood and the stock 

 be apj)ro.ximately of the same age and appearance; some 

 species may require the observance of both these rules. In 

 far the largest number of species, however, the plants seem 

 indifferent whetherthe.se conditions are observed or not. To 

 the first class,',wliich require the use of well matured bud-wood, 

 from which the petioles of the leaves have been removed, 

 belong the mango, cacao and cashew. The bud-wood of 

 all the Annonacca^ should be mature enough to have com- 

 pletely lost any green colour in the bark. The second 

 condition, of having the bud-wood and tlie stock of approxim- 

 ately the same age and colour should also be observed with 

 the mango, cacao, cashew and golden apple, Sjmndias dulcU 

 (cythereo,'). In some of these, as for in.stance the mango, the 

 bud-wood, though mature, still remains green. With most of the 

 other tropical fruits, guava, tamarind, carambola, citrus fruits. 



etc., bud-wcod may be successfully used with the petioles of 

 the leaves left adhering to it. 



In another article in the same number of the Philippine 

 Arjricultui'tl Rti'iew, Mr. Wester makes .some observations on 

 new and noteworthy tropical fruits in the Philippines. Some 

 of thete are already known in the West Indies; some seem 

 hardly worth while introducing in their present stage of 

 evolution, though it seems probable that the Philippine 

 horticulturists may develop them into desirable acquisitions 

 in the future. One of them, however, does seem to 

 be well worth introducing into the West Indies as soon as 

 may be; that is Artocarpus o(J7)'atissiina, known in the 

 Philippines as 'marang'. This is a medium sized tree, with 

 large green entire or nilobate leaves, presenting a very similar 

 appearance to its relative the bread-fruit. It bears a large 

 oblong fruit averaging more than 6 inches in length and 

 more than 4 inches in diameter, studded on the outside with 

 soft greeni.sh-yellow spines. The rind is thick and fleshy; the 

 interior contains a white, sweet, juicy, aromatic pulp 

 separated into segments, about the size of grapes, attached to 

 a core, each segment enclosing a .seed easih' separated from 

 the pulp. 



ISy passing a knife round and through the rind of the 

 ripe fruit, with a little care the two halves of the rind can be 

 removed, leaving the inner segments adhering to the core like 

 a bunch of white grapes. 



In flavour the marang is somewhat like the sugar-apple, 

 but richer and more aromatic. Mr. Wester believes that 

 when better known, it will be highly prized as a dessert fruit. 



EXPERIMENT IN SHIPPING DURIAN 

 SEEDS. 



It is often thought that seeds which are to be sent long 

 distances should be thoroughly dried, and packed as dry as 

 possible to insure a good germination. The following experi- 

 ment made with seeds of the famotis Malayan fruit the durian 

 (Durio zibcthinus), shows that this is not always the case. 



On May 1, 191.5, Dr. P. .1. S. Cramer, Chief of the 

 Plant Breeding Station, Buitenzorg, Java, .sent by parcels 

 post three boxes, each of which contained four durian seeds. 

 These seeds are nioilerately large, about ^-to 1 inch long and 

 |-inch or more in diameter. The boxes were all the same 

 size, namely 4x3x2 inches. The seeds were loosely packed 

 with charcoal mixed with coco-nut fibre refuse. Box No. 1 

 was packed dry; "i-o c.c. of water was added to box 

 No. 2, aud .50 c.c. of water to box No. 3. The seeds 

 reached Trinidad on .July 6, having been two months on the 

 way. 



Wlien the boxes were opened it was found that all the 

 seeds in box No. 1 had drier! up completely and were mere 

 shells which could he crushed between the fingers. In box 

 No. 2 there were two good seetls which had already begun to 

 germinate, while the other two were rotted. In box No. -"J 

 all the seeds were good and had germinated en route, but one 

 had grown so much that the shoot was badly broken. The 

 seeds wore handled carefully and planted in pots in a mixture 

 of coco-nut fibre refuse and sand. One plant got broken off 

 accidentally, but the other four have grown well, three now 

 being 14 inches high and one 20 inches high. 



As the durian seed has the reputation of being a diffi- 

 cult shipper, four plants from twelve seeds after a journey of 

 twf) months would seem to be very good. With many similar 

 seeds it is probably princiijally a question of giving the right 

 degree of moisture to the packing material. (,T, B, 11. in the 

 liv/ietin of the Dipartment of Agriculturt: of Trinidad and 

 Tobago, Vol. XV, No. 1.) 



