116 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Apeil 15. 1911 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



THE PAIRI MANGO. 



' In the Bombay markets the mango most in demand is 

 the Alphonse. This is a fairly well known variety, and 

 has been distributed to most quarters of India, to the West 

 Indies, to America, and to Australia. Next to this famous 

 variety, a much less known variety called the Pairi has 

 a large production and sale. In a typical Alphonse fruit, the 

 left shoulder is high, the right low, and the beak is almost ab- 

 sent. In contrast to this, in a typical Pairi fruit, both shoulders 

 fall about equally, and the beak is very marked. The shapes 

 of both varieties are fairly constant, and it is impossible to 

 confound the two, once one has seen them side by side. The 

 Pairi fruit when fully ripe has an external colour varying 

 from red on the shoulder to yellow at the beak. The flesh of 

 this mango is of a brownish orange colour, with very little 

 fibre. The stone occupies perhaps one-third of the volume of 

 the fruit. The taste is delicious, and slightly more piquant 

 than that of the Alphonse. 



Some judge the taste inferior to that of Alphonse, but 

 personally I prefer the slightly acid Pairi to the heavier and 

 more luscious Alphonse. Woodrow gives the following weight 

 and .size of a typical fruit: weight 8 oz., size 4x3x3 inches. 

 One which I measured and weighed ' myself was as follows: 

 weight 360 grammes, size 10'-5 x 8'.5 x 7 cm. |4-2 x 3 4 x 28 

 inches]. It is therefore a moderate-sized mango. There are 

 .several varieties with bigger, and many with smaller, fruits. 

 The Pairi mango has one defect; it does not keep well. 

 Whereas Alphonse may be kept up to two months even, if 

 properly stored; Pairi, with the utmost precautions, will 

 hardly last eight days. This character and its difterent 

 flavour make it a cheaper mango than the Alphonse. The 

 Pairi mango tree has a most vigorous spreading habit of 

 growth. This character of the Pairi makes it an excellent 

 trunk piece for a composite grafted mango, giving a vigorous 

 stem. 



One or two sub-varieties of the Pairi mango are known, 

 for example, Moti-Pairi, which is a larger kind. One .specimen 

 of the fruit which I examined weighed .'527 grammes and 

 measured 12 x ilo x 8 cm. [4 8 x 3'8 x 32 inches]. Another 

 sub-variety is the Kagdi Pairi (Kagdi-papery) so called on 

 account of its thin and shining skin. The fruit is said to 

 have firmer flesh, and to be superior in flavour to the ordin- 

 ary Pairi. 



As regards the source and history of the Pairi mango, 

 little is known, but it is clear that it is of lionibay origin, 



and has been little cultivated in other parts of India. Maries, 

 in Watt's DiHionary of Economic Products, Vol. V, pp. 

 146.57, has one doubtful reference to Pairi, which is worded 

 as follows: 'I should advise planting seedling mangoes 

 where grafts are difficult to obtain, taking for the seed only 

 such .sorts as Afooz, Puary, Kishenbogh, Durbhangah, Bom- 

 bay, Fuzlee, and good forms.' In the portfolio of pamtings 

 of mangoes in the herbarium of the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, 

 I found no painting labelled Pairi. Firminger, in the year 

 1874, or the more recent edition of his Munual of (jardening 

 fjv Benijal and Upjier India, does not mention the Pairi. 

 Two old Indian gardening books, Speede's IVie Indinn Hand- 

 book of Gardening (Calcutta, 1842) and Pogson's Indinn 

 Gardenimj in Bengal, Upper Froi'inces, and the Hill Stations 

 of India (Calcutta, 187.5) make no mention of Pairi. These 

 facts would seem to show that it was for long unknown in 

 Upper India. 



On the other hand, in a Resolution of the Bombay 

 Government, Revenue Department, made in 188.5, the follow- 

 ing entry is made against Thana: 'Afus and Pyre mangoes are 

 largely grown in this district, especially .in Salsette.' Cooke, in 

 hia Flora of the Bombay Presidency, 1903, Vol. 1, p. 214, 

 has a long note on the Pairi mango, mentioning its botanical 

 and commercirti characters. Gupte and liaje, in their .Marathi 

 book, Ki-ishi Karma, 1901, p. 080, mention the Pairi mango, 

 and state that its name is a corruption of the Portuguese 

 name Pereira. This is not impossible, seeing that the Portu- 

 guese Alphonse has become corrupted into Apoos, Afoos and 

 Hapoos. In Woodrow's Gardening in India, 1694, pp. 

 253-60, Pairi is mentioned as one of the celebrated mango 

 trees occurring in the following districts: Poona, Kolaba 

 and Surat. 



All this would seem to show that it is a mango evolved 

 probably by some Goanose horticulturist, but that it has 

 somehow not spread over India, or come to the knowledge of 

 gardeners outside the Bombay Presidency to the same extent 

 that Alphonse has. (From The AgricultHral Journal of 

 India, Vol. VI, p. 27.) 



A report by the Officer Administering the Government 

 of the Gold Coast shows that the cacao croi) of last year was 

 50,609,950 lb., as against 4.5,277,006 lb. in 1909, and 

 28,545,910 1b. in 1908. The value of the crop of 1910 is 

 placed at £86.5,419. 



