139 



PROMISING NK\V FRUITS. 481 



shown sufficient merit during the past two years to warrant a more 

 general testing. 



This variety was obtained in 1899 by Messrs. Lathrop and Fair- 

 child, at the Botanic Garden of Trinidad, British West Indies, in the 

 form of five potted plants. These plants were distributed in 1900, 

 under Seed and Plant Introduction No. 3706, with the following 

 note : 



Five potted plants of the Peters No. 1 mango, reputed by Mr. J. H. Hart to 

 be the finest flavored of all the mangoes ; green skinned, rosy purple blush, and 

 mottled with small yellow dots. Skin thick, flesh pulpy, juicy, high-flavored. 

 Ripens best in dry climate of Jamaica ; good and regular cropper ; tree medium 

 size, healthy grower ; weight of fruit, 12 to 16 ounces ; size, 3 J by 3 inches. 



Mr. J. H. Hart, late superintendent of the botanical department of 

 Trinidad, who has had the variety under observation in the West 

 Indies for thirty-three years, states b that it was introduced to both 

 Jamaica and Trinidad about 1868 or 1869. Upon his arrival in 

 Jamaica in 1875 he found it growing under the name " Bombay," but 

 on arriving in Trinidad in 1887 he found trees of it growing there 

 under the name " Peters." c Trees standing side by side with the 

 "Peters" bore the names "Peach" and "Malda," respectively, and 

 closely resembled it in character of fruit, the "Peach" being dis- 

 tinguished from the others by being more highly colored on the sunny 

 side. He considers the three sorts closely related, possibly seedlings 

 from a common parent. From 1865 to 1887 these trees were propa- 

 gated from by the dozens, but the demand is now so large that they 

 are being grafted by thousands, both by the Government establish- 

 ment and by private growers. 



Mr. Hart states that, like other mangos, the Peters does well in 

 the dry districts in the West Indies, but in damp, tropical locations 

 the fruit is often subject to an unidentified disease which causes a 

 darkening and souring of the flesh next to the seed just previous to 

 ripening. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form roundish oblong, heavily shouldered at base and plump at 

 apex ; size medium ; stem rather stout, inserted in a small, shallow 

 cavity; apex swollen, with a broad, strong beak an inch or more 

 from the extremity of the fruit; surface moderately smooth, color 

 greenish yellow, blushed, striped, and splashed with light and dark 

 red; dots numerous, yellow; bloom bluish white; skin moderately 

 thick, tenacious ; seed small, oblong, thin, adhering tenaciously ; flesh 



Section of Seed and Plant Introduction Inventory No. 8, Jan. 1, 1901, p. 35. 



6 Letters of January 23 and April 5, 1909. 



c Though suspiciously similar in name this is apparently not the " Peter " of 

 the Calcutta Botanic Garden as described by Firminger in Manual of Gardening 

 for Bengal and Upper India, London, 1864, p. 198. 



