INTRODUCED PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 255 



CHAPTER XIN. 



TROPICAL FRUITS IN HAWAII. 



Until reeentlx- the brains and energy of the people in Hawaii have been so 

 centered on developing the more profitable field crops, that bnt little .s^-stematic 

 effort has been put forth towards the introduction and cultivation of edible 

 fruits. Nevertheless many delicious fruits are found growing in the islands 

 in both a wild and cultivated state. In much the same way that we compare 

 Honolulu to a botanical garden, by reason of the number and variety of its 

 ornamental plants, we may compare Hawaii to a great unkempt experimental 

 orchard. 



Native and Introduced Fruits. 



ilany rare, curious and toothsome fruits have been brought to Hawaii from 

 the ends of the earth in times past by fruit lovers. But, unfortunately, they 

 have too often been planted out among ornamental plants, in out-of-the-way 

 places or left in neglected corners to shift for themselves. With few excep- 

 tions such plantings have not materially advanced the cause of fruit-growing 

 more than to help demonstrate that a long list of worthy fruits will grow in 

 Hawaii almost without attention. 



Many native-grown species of our most common fruits are seldom, if ever, 

 seen in the markets of Honolulu, while the great majority of the list of island 

 species arc to be seen only in the private grounds of the older residents. Although 

 it is true that most of the varieties as yet have a greater ornamental than com- 

 mercial value, a few, as the pineapple and the banana, are extensively culti- 

 vated. Their production has come to be important industries. It is to a brief 

 review of some of the more interesting and important of the island fruits, both 

 native and introduced, that this chapter is devoted. 



Botanists tell us that the islands at the time of their settlement by the 

 aborigines had few native indigenous fruits. The Chilian strawberry ^ has 

 long flourished on the high mountains of Hawaii and East Maui at an elevation 

 of from four to six thousand feet. The natives have always held this small 

 though delicious berry in high esteem under the name ohelo papa. It seldom 

 reaches the market, but from May to September it is abundant ; on Hawaii it is 

 one of the principal articles of food for the Hawaiian goose. There are several 

 cultivated species of better quality that find their way to market. Strawberries 

 do not thrive well at sea-level, but prefer the higher and cooler regions. As a 

 result they are grown in beds in Nuuanu Valley, at Wahiawa and elsewdiere, 

 where conditions are favorable. By changing the elevation, moisture and soil 

 conditions, an extended period of bearing is secured. As a matter of fact, if 

 they were more skilfully handled, fresh strawberries could be grown for the 

 market every day in the year. As it is there is not more than a month or so 

 when fresh fruit cannot be secured. 



