CHAPTER XXXV 



MINOR SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS IN CALIFORNIA* 



A number of interesting fruits are now grown in this State 

 which, for one reason or another, have not yet attained any great 

 commercial importance, although some of them are rapidly ad- 

 vancing in popular esteem and likely to gain much higher place 

 in the markets. Others will probably never be grown except for 

 home use and garden ornament. 



THE BANANA 



The banana has been a favorite plant for experimental culture 

 for many years, and though good fruit has been grown at various 

 points in the State, the culture is too hazardous to warrant large 

 investment, and if this danger was not present, the abundant sup- 

 plies available from the islands of the Pacific would probably reduce 

 the profits to a narrow margin. The banana can be trusted only 

 in protected situations and in small numbers which can be given 

 special attention. With these conditions the banana may yield very 

 acceptable fruit for home use and be an ornament to the garden. 

 Its beauty is, however, seriously impaired by winds, which whip 

 its tender leaves into shreds and give the plant an unkempt ap- 

 pearance. 



The largest number of bananas are seen in Los Angeles and 

 Santa Barbara, and one grower at an elevation near the latter place 

 reports his table supplied daily throughout the year with the fruit 

 of the Cavendish species, which is the most commonly grown sort. 

 The Yellow Martinique or Yellow Costa Rica, the Orinoco, the 

 Hawaiian Lele, Hart's Choice, and a large-fruited variety known 

 in Los Angeles County as the Baldwin, are also approved by 

 growers. 



THE CHERIMOYER OR PERUVIAN CUSTARD APPLE 



The oldest cherimoyer (Anona cherimolia) is growing in Santa 

 Barbara. The fruit was introduced about fifty years ago, and the 

 parent tree has for many years produced abundant fruit in such 

 perfection that the seeds have readily germinated, and the trees 

 thus propagated have been in successful bearing in several Santa 

 Barbara gardens. The leaves are oval and pointed at both ends; 

 flowers solitary, very fragrant, and having a greenish color. Good 

 specimens of the fruit are three or four inches in diameter, often 

 heart-shaped, grayish brown or nearly black when fully ripe. The 

 flesh, in which thirty or forty brown seeds are found, is soft, sweet, 



*A11 the fruits mentioned in this chapter and others are treated exhaustively in 

 "Manual of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits," by Wilson Popenoe, Macmillan Co.. N. Y., 

 1920. 



