30 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



larly with papayas, they are considered by different individuals 

 as fit for the gods, or fit for pigs, according to individual taste. 

 Mangos offer another illustration of this point. Some of 

 them taste so strongly of turpentine and contain so much fiber 

 that they can hardly be considered more than a mere unpleasant 

 curiosity. Other varieties, however, have extreme delicacy of 

 flavor and the prospect of a commercial market for them is 

 probably greater than for avocado or perhaps for any tropical 

 fruit aside from citrus, bananas, and pineapples. 



One of the possible reasons, however, for the slow progress 

 which many tropical fruits have made in cold climate markets 

 is that there are no commercial orchards of these fruits in ex- 

 istence. Notwithstanding the fact that mangos, avocados, 

 papayas, carambolas, custard apples, mangosteen, guava, and 

 many other strictly tropical fruits have been cultivated 

 throughout the Tropics for hundreds, and some of them for 

 thousands, of years, there are still no commercial orchards of 

 these fruits. In every dooryard in tropical countries one finds 

 one or two trees of nearly all of these fruits and the house- 

 holder is therefore supplied with the quantity which he may 

 need. On this account no occasion has arisen until recently 

 for engaging in the production of these fruits on a commer- 

 cial scale. It is a curious fact that perhaps the largest avocado 

 orchards in the world are at present located in Florida, al- 

 though the industry has only recently been taken up in that 

 locality. When a greater variety of tropical fruits is raised in 

 commercial orchards in tropical countries, it may be possible 

 that more of them will become familiar to the inhabitants of 

 cold climates and that a demand of commercial importance 

 will arise for these fruits. Experiments recently conducted 

 at the Hawaii Experiment Station showed that most tropical 

 fruits could readily be held in cold storage for one to three 

 months. It will therefore be possible, if the demand arises, 

 to supply the tropical fruits to the markets of colder climates 

 by means of refrigeration on steamship and freight car. 



