566 



The Journal of Heredity 



Florida to improve the avocado through 

 selection of seedlings, and Cuba has 

 taken advantage of this by importing 

 budded stock of selected varieties from 

 Florida. In Cuba itself a few selections 

 have been made, yet the field has 

 scarcely been touched, and there can be 

 no doubt but that there are many valu- 

 able forms to be found among the 

 Cuban seedlings. The most important 

 point in the selection of varieties at the 

 present time is lateness of ripening, 

 since it is the late fruits which bring the 

 highest prices when shi]jped to northern 

 markets. Here and there throughout 

 the island are found occasional seedling 

 trees which hold their fruit until 

 December, January or even February. 

 These should be hunted out and propa- 

 gated. 



THE CUSTARD-APPLES 



Other Cuban fruits which un- 

 doubtedly possess great possibilities in 

 the hands of the intelligent horticul- 

 turist, first through vegetative propa- 

 gation of the best existing seedlings, 

 then through further improvement by 

 selection and hybridization, arc the 

 annonas, especially the anon (Annona 

 squamosa), known in English as sugar- 

 apple, and the guanabana or sour-sop 

 (A. muricata). Hybrids between the 

 sugar-apple and the cherimoya {A. 

 cherimola) made by Edward Simmonds 

 in Florida have demonstrated the possi- 

 bilities along this line. The cherimoya, 

 without doubt the finest flavored of the 

 cultivated annonas, does not attain 

 perfection in a truly tr(j])ical climate. 

 The svigar-ajiple, on the other hand, is 

 l^erfectly at home and fruits abundantly. 

 The hybrid between these two sj^ecies is 

 a plant with foliage remarkably similar 

 to that of the cherimoya, and with 

 fruits a little larger than the average 

 sugar-a])ple, with the carpellary divi- 

 sions less deeply incised, and with a 

 more pleasant, slightly acidulous flavor, 

 almost midway between that of the 

 cherimoya and the sugar-apple. It 

 fruits somewhat more abundantly than 

 the cherimoya but less so than the 

 sugar-ajjple. Crosses should be made 

 in Cuba between these species as well 



as between the sour-sop and the cheri- 

 moya. 



Previous to the American interven- 

 tion, citrous fruits were grown in Cuba 

 almost exclusively from seed. Valuable 

 seedling types, particularly of oranges, 

 are often encountered growing half 

 wild in neglected gardens and fence 

 rows. In the early days of the Estacion 

 Experimental Agronomica (the Govern- 

 ment Experiment Station at Santiago 

 dc las Vegas) the work of searching out 

 and propagating these desirable seed- 

 lings was commenced, but was not 

 carried very far. Undoubtedly when 

 completed it will yield some valuable 

 results in the way of varieties adapted 

 to Cuban conditions. Other fruits, 

 such as the caimito or star-apple 

 {Chrysophyllum cainito) the sapotc or 

 sapodilla {Achras zapota), the mamey 

 Santo Domingo {Mammea americana) , 

 the mamey Colorado {Lucuma mam- 

 mosa), and the common guava {Psidiuni 

 guajava), all of importance in the 

 economy of the Cuban ])eople, will 

 doubtless come in for their share of 

 attention in later years. 



IMPORTANT VEGETABLES 



Many of the more important tropical 

 vegetables, such as sweet potatoes and 

 yams, malanga (Colocasia sp.) and yuca 

 {Manihot utilissima), all of which are 

 widely grown in Cuba, are propagated 

 asexually. The opportunity for selec- 

 tion is not lacking, however, since bud 

 variation seems to be much more 

 common in the tropics than in temperate 

 regions. Existing varieties of the.se 

 crops are usually very local in distribu- 

 tion and few attempts have been made 

 to determine which arc the most valu- 

 able and best adapted to different con- 

 ditions. In sweet potatoes, an important 

 piece of work has recently been under- 

 taken by Dr. Juan T. Roig of the 

 Estacion Ex])erimenlal Agronomica, 

 who has assembled a collection of 

 varieties, over eighty in all, from dif- 

 ferent parts of the island, and is now 

 determining the comparative value of 

 each. 



Northern v^egetables of many kinds 

 are successfully grown in Cuba during 

 the winter months. Certain varieties 



