THE CHERIMOYER OR PERUVIAN CUSTARD APPLE ]. 405 



set more easily. There seems to be no reasonable ground 

 for this operation, but the smooth, flat branches of the 

 prickly pear may afford a better resting place for pronu- 

 bal insects, than the hairy foliage of the Custard apple. 



The Custard apple has few enemies. It is sometimes 

 attached by the black scale (Lecanium oleae], but the 

 injury is never severe. A more dangerous enemy is the 

 fig-tree scale or tortoise scale \Ceroplastes Rusci], which 

 at times may seriously interfere with the development of 

 the tree, and may even kill it if the infestation is a severe 

 one. The best remedy consists in thoroughly white- 

 washing with lime the tree in winter when it is leafless. 

 Spraying with soap and paraffin emulsion, or with lime 

 and sulphur mixture may be done in summer and autumn. 

 The fruit-fly sometimes attacks the fruit, just when it 

 begins to ripen. 



THE CHERIMOYER 

 OR PERUVIAN CUSTARD APPLE. 



Anona Cherimolia Lin. ANONACEAE. 



The foliage of this tree is of a more lively green 

 than that of the Netted Custard apple or Bullock's 

 Heart, and the fruit is more often heart shaped, marked 

 out by angular markings and turns into a light green 

 colour when ripe. The pulp is of a creamy colour and 

 consistence, and deliciously perfumed and flavoured. The 

 tree is generally much more productive than the 

 Bullock's Heart, and the fruit is altogether superior in 

 quality, so that it has superseded the Bullock's Heart 

 in popular favour. The tree has been introduced in 

 Malta towards 1820 or soon after the Bullock's Heart, 

 and its requirements in the matter of cultivation are 

 identical with that species. It is subject to the same 

 diseases, and is more liable to the attacks of the fruit-fly, 

 the delicate rind of the fruit being more easily penetrated 



