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ripe, disclosing five lobes of a creamy consistency and whitish 

 color in which the seeds are embedded. It is in season in May 

 and June, but there is often a secondary crop in November. It 

 must be eaten fresh as it soon decomposes. The smell is nauseous 

 to most Europeans. The trees grow in clumps and a single clump 

 will scent a whole village. In taking it to market, the fruit is 

 hung in baskets on the top-masts of the boats. The extent of its 

 range'and its climate is about the same as that of the mangosteen, 

 but it will endure almost any soil. All attempts to cultivate it in 

 Hindustan have failed. 



Az'crrhoa carambola, of the Oxalidaceae or Sorrel family, a 

 native of the Moluccas, grows well in Honolulu, but is not duly 

 appreciated by the whites. The tree is handsome with its feathery 

 foliage, and the five-angled fruit, yellow when ripe, has a pleas- 

 ant odor and a most refreshing acid taste, — too acid indeed with- 

 out sugar. The juice contains hyperoxalate of potash. Sliced 

 and stewed it makes an agreeable sauce of peculiar flavor, and in 

 this climate we have too few small fruits like currants, gooseber- 

 ries, etc. There are two varieties, the acid and the sweet, but the 

 latter is inferior. Propagated readily by seed. 



Averrhoa hilimbi, the Blimbling, is a larger species, quite acid, 

 used in India for sauce, curries, pickles and preserves. I have 

 eaten it preserved in India, but have not seen it here. 



Skinimia japonica, family Rutaceae, might grow here and would 

 be a desirable small fruit. 



Citrus, another genus of Rutaceae, is a most difficult genus for 

 botanists, at any rate they do not agree on the nomenclature of 

 the different species, and find difficulty in referring the innumer- 

 able varieties to definite species. I need here give little more 

 than an enumeration of the principal divisions of a subject on 

 which Risso and other horticultural botanists have published folio 

 volumes. 



Citrus oliz'Gcforuiis, the Kumquat so well known as a Chinese 

 preserve, but not enough appreciated for its adaptability as a 

 dwarf ornamental tree, so often seen in China and Japan. The 

 round variety is common in our gardens and is b9th ornamental 

 wnth its golden balls which persist so long, and is admirable for 

 orangeade and preserves. 



