128 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



The seeds are commonly planted single in pots and the seedlings 

 are transplanted when they reach a height of about 2, feet. The 

 mangosteen has no commercial importance. 



CUSTARD APPLES 

 Sour Sop, Sweet Sop, Cherimoyer, and Bull's Heart 



Among the various species of custard apple known in the 

 Tropics the four just named are best known and most widely 

 used. The sour sop (Anona muricata) is a native of the West 

 Indies. It is a quick-growing shrub or tree which attains a 

 height of 15 to 20 feet and bears ovate or reniform fruit 

 weighing 4 to 10 pounds and covered with flexible green 

 prickles. The pulp of the fruit is white and contains large black 

 seeds. The sour sop has a sweet-acid flavor and is eaten either 

 out of hand or in ices and cool drinks. The sour sop has 

 become widely distributed throughout tropical countries. 



The bull's heart (A. reticulata) is a bushy tree with large 

 smooth heart-shaped fruit of a yellow and reddish-brown 

 color. This tree is a native of the West Indies but is quite 

 widely cultivated in the Oriental Tropics. The fruit is rather 

 insipid. 



The sweet sop (A. squamosa), also called custard apple or 

 sugar apple, is a small tree native of Asia and Central America 

 and is now widely cultivated in the Tropics and subtropics. 

 The fruit is about the size of an apple and the rind of the 

 fruit is formed of scales which when ripe break away from 

 the white, sw >et, granular pulp. The tree thrives best in dry 

 localities up tc an altitude of 2,500 feet. The sweet sop is prop- 

 agated by seed, cuttings, or grafting. The fruit weighs about 

 i*/2 pounds but varies greatly in size in different localities. 

 Each fruit contains from 50 to 60 seed. The sweet sop con- 

 tains i to 2 per cent, protein and 16 to 18 per cent, sugar. The 

 customary planting distance for this tree is about 10 by 10 feet. 



The cherimoyer (A. cherimolla) is a small tree native of 



