THE PEPINO. 151 



resembles somewhat the Bartlett pear, but in taste more 

 a muskmelon ; but it has besides a most delicious acid, 

 entirely wanting in melons and quite peculiarly its own. 

 In warm localities this acid does not develop, and this 

 fact is the greatest drawback to the success of the fruit. 

 The fruit has no seed, as a rule. And in all, I have 

 found only a dozen seeds, and those in fruit which came 

 from Salama in Guatemala, a place rather too warm to 

 produce the finest quality of fruit. The botanical name 

 of the pepino is not known to me with rertainty. The 

 same was described by the Franco-Guatemalan botanist, 

 Mr. Rousignon, as Solanum Melongena Guatemalense, 

 but it is to me quite evident that this solatium is not, 

 nor is it closely related to the S. Melongena or eggplant, 

 which latter is a native of Central Asia. The pepino is 

 probably a native of the Central American highlands, and 

 appears to have been cultivated by the Indians before the 

 conquest by the Spaniards."* Last year Mr. Eisen writes 

 that "it lias only succeeded in Florida, but has there 

 proved of considerable value, "f 



The greatest fault of the pepino appears to be its fail- 

 ure to set fruit. Mr. Eisen states that in Guatemala it 

 "yields abundantly, in fact enormously, 100 to 150 fruits 

 to a vine 4 feet in diameter being nothing uncommon. I 

 have seen it yield similarly in California, but whenever 

 exposed to too much heat and dryness, it is very slow to 

 set fruit, "f He recommends that it be shaded if it re- 

 fuses to set fruit. Martin Benson, Dade Co., Florida, 

 writing to the American Garden,\\ says that he has had 

 great success with it. "I counted the fruit on a medium- 

 sized plant and found it bore 60 of all sizes, from those 

 jusi set to some nearly matured and weighing upwards of 



*Gard. Monthly, xxix. 84 (1887). 

 fGard. and Forest, iii. 471 (1890). 

 tOrch. and Card. x. 61 (1888). 

 || ix. 265 (1888). 



