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been the object of mjii's care, like the banana and orange, can no 

 longer be traced to their parent form. Few but botanists would 

 recognize the blood-relationship between the medlar that is unht 

 to be eaten until rotten and the apple of our modern horticultural- 

 ists, perhaps the most universally accepted fruit. 



But I am gietting upon dangerous ground, for in matters of 

 taste man (alone perhaps of animals) fortunately differs from 

 man, and what is a good fruit to one is quite insipid to another ; 

 to some, apples are poisonous, to others oranges ; and an English 

 officer has declared the foul-smelling durian to be ''undoubtedly 

 the finest of fruits." So I will neither quote Humboldt's three 

 best fruits nor give miy own preferences. And this the more read- 

 ily since we all know that the same fruit grown under different 

 cultural or climatic influences produces a very attractive or only 

 a fairly good result. The Fameuse or Snow-apple of Canada, 

 dark red skin, white, crisp meat, and of delicious flavor in that 

 cold climate is merely commonplace when grown in Massa- 

 chusetts, and the Manila grown mango throws our best Hawaiian 

 grown mangoes into the second class. We are in many cases un- 

 fortunate here either from improper cultivation or a wrong selec- 

 tion of locality, and not a few of the tropical fruits grown here 

 are inferior to the same fruits grown in Central America or the 

 East Indies ; but this should incite us to renewed exertion, farther 

 experiments and doubtless better results. 



As my list is a long one I will take it up without longer preface. 



Anona of the family Anonaceae. 



A. chcriuiolia, the purple cherimoya of Peru. Of this there are 

 two varieties, one smooth, the other with a tubercle on each scale. 

 The pulp is a soft, sweet mucilage. I do not know of any 'trees 

 of this species bearing on these islands. 



A. squamosa, the Custard apple of Central America. This 

 species has long been cultivated on these islands, and the first I 

 ever tasted was in the garden of Rev. Oramel Gulick at Waio- 

 hinu, Hawaii, forty-two years ago. It has run wild over the 

 southwest part of Hawaii. As the custard-like pulp contains, no 

 acid it seems tasteless to many, but is good food for invalids. In 

 India it is claimed that when the tree is pruned in the hot season 

 the fruit of the succeeding crops is of double size. 



A. reticulata, called Bullock's Heart from its shape and reddish- 

 brown color. The soft sweet pulp is not much esteemed. 



