16 



LITTLE-KNOWN FRUIT VARIETIES. 389 



Though sufficiently hardy for the important grape districts of the 

 East, it will probably be advisable to take down the vines from the 

 trellis to afford partial protection in severe winters. Like other 

 grapes of fine quality, the vine should not be permitted to overbear 

 when best results are desired/ As a grape for amateurs it is com- 

 mended as one of rare beauty and superior excellence; also as one of 

 the most promising sorts for the grower who supplies a special trade 

 that demands and is willing to pay for fruit of fine quality. 



MULGOBA MANGO. 



[PLATE LI.] 



The mango is, comparatively speaking, one of the more recent 

 introductions from the Old World. It is native in India and elsewhere 

 in southern Asia. It did not reach Europe until 1690, when it was 

 introduced to cultivation in hot houses in England. It is reported to 

 have reached the West Indies from Brazil about the middle of the 

 eighteenth century, and Jamaica in 1782, where it soon became 

 naturalized. It appears to have reached Florida first at Indian Key, 

 where it was introduced by Dr. Perrine in 1840, but these plants failed 

 to survive the neglect that followed the murder of that enterprising 

 horticultural pioneer by the Indians in May of the same year. 



It was again introduced, probably from Jamaica, about 1870, at 

 Point Pinellas, and a third time, in 1877, in the same locality, by Mr. 

 William P. Neeld. The rapid growth, precocity, and productiveness 

 of the trees grown by Mr. Neeld, together with the high prices 

 obtained for the fresh fruit, both for home use and shipment, resulted 

 in large plantings throughout central Florida. 



Single trees but 6 years old from the seed are reported to have 

 yielded upward of $50 worth of fruit in a season, and in one instance 

 two seedling trees 8 years old bore a crop estimated at 19,000 fruits. 

 The freeze of January, 1886, checked the rapid expansion of mango 

 plantations, however, as it killed to the ground practically all the 

 mango trees north of the Caloosahatchie River. Sprouts from the old 

 trees and young seedlings rapidly came into bearing, so that there was 

 a considerable annual production of fruit from about 1890 to 1894, 

 inclusive. The disastrous freezes of December, 1894, and February, 

 1895, proved fatal to most mango trees north of the Caloosahatchie 

 River and Lake Worth, however, and since then production and plant- 

 ing have been chiefly limited to the region below these points. 



During the earlier years of cultivation in Florida little effort was 

 made to perpetuate choice varieties, except through seedlings. ' The 

 species is propagated with difficulty by budding and grafting, and not 

 until recently have the details been mastered sufficiently to render 

 commercial propagation possible. In India, where the species has 

 been grown under cultivation for centuries, inarching is practiced, but 



