139b 



POMELO 



POMOLOGY 



Shaddock. Although botanically the Pomelo and 

 Shaddock are of one species, as known horticulturally in 

 Jamaica they are very different. The Shaddock is a 

 smaller tree than the Pomelo, with larger leaves, but 

 the greatest difference is in the fruit. Whilst one is 

 an esteemed and valuable dessert fruit, the other is 

 hardly ever used, and is not exported. There are 

 two varieties of Shaddock, one with a globose fruit 

 and flesh of a pale color, the other pear shaped, with 

 crimson flesh. In both, the fruits are very large, often 

 weighing 15 or 16 pounds; the rind is exceedingly 

 thick, the vesicles are large and distinct, but the flesh 

 is dry and coarse, except in occasional varieties. The 

 Shaddock is said to have been brought to the West 

 Indies by Captain Shaddock. 



Hog Shaddock. This variety is very like the pear- 

 shaped Shaddock in appearance, and it is probably a 

 hybrid between the Shaddock and the citron, or the 

 rough lemon. It is of no value whatever as a fruit, 

 being intensely bitter, but it is used for the purpose of 

 cleaning floors to kill fleas, which are troublesome in 

 some houses at certain seasons of the year. The Hog 

 Shaddock is said to make an excellent stock on which to 

 bud Pomelo. W . HARRIS. 



THE POMELO IN FLORIDA. In no place in the world 

 has the culture of the Pomelo reached such perfection 

 as in Florida. Indeed, the improvement of the fruit and 

 extension of its cultivation in that state has led to its 

 establishment as an important commercial fruit. Its 

 cultivation as a market fruit has been extended from 

 Florida to California and Jamaica, and it is only in these 

 localities as yet, so far as the writer is informed, where 

 any of its varieties are grown on a commercial scale. In 

 most foreign countries the pear-shaped Pomelos, or 

 Shaddocks as they are more properly called, are con- 

 sidered superior to the round varieties, but in this coun- 

 try the industry has been built up with the round types, 

 varieties of which have been developed that are much 

 sweeter and of better quality and flavor than any of the 

 pear-shaped forms or Shaddocks. The good varieties 

 grown for the market in Florida are almost entirely of 

 native origin, though one fairly good sort the Pernam- 

 buco was introduced from South America. 



In Florida the Pomelo is, in general, cultivated and 

 manured the same as the orange. The trees grow rather 

 larger than the orange, however, and should be given 

 considerable space. They are ordinarily planted about 

 30 feet apart. Pomelo seedlings from fruits of good 

 quality usually produce good marketable fruits, but the 

 differentiation of varieties has progressed far enough 

 so that advanced horticulturists recommend budding or 

 grafting in order to secure fruit of the best quality. 

 (For a short description of the varieties commonly 

 grown see Citrus Decumana.) The Pomelo is usually 

 budded either on its own stock or on that of the sweet 

 orange or sour orange. Many growers think 

 that it gives best results when budded on 

 its own stock, and this is very extensively 

 practiced in Florida. The Pomelo is more 

 easily injured by cold than the orange, 

 and in the freeze of 1894-5 in Florida all 

 trees in the northern and central part of 

 the state were killed to the ground. Since 

 this time large plantings have been made in 

 southern Florida, and in a few years a much 

 larger crop will be produced than ever be- 

 fore. Considerable quantities of the fruit 

 are also being produced in California. 



H. J. WEBBER. 



FOMME BLANCHE. Psoralea esculenta. 



POMOLOGY (Literally, science of fruits}. 

 All those subjects, both practical and scien- 

 tific, that have to do with the growing of 

 fruits are assembled under the term Po- 

 mology. It is synonymous with Fruit-grow- 

 ing. There has been an effort to divorce 

 the terms Pomology and Fruit-growing, 

 making the former comprise the scientific 

 and classificatory subjects and the latter the 

 practical subjects; but such division is ar- 

 bitrary and is opposed to usage. The word 



A pome, as the term 

 is now understood. 



"growing " can no longer be held, when used in such 

 connection, to designate merely the planting and care 

 of fruit-plants, for all good practice is indissolubly 

 associated with scientific knowledge and theory. Fruit- 

 growing is a more familiar and homely term than the 

 Latin-Greek word Pomology, and for that reason it has 

 seemed to some persons to be less adaptable to the 

 formal presentation of the 

 knowledge connected with 

 fruits. It is significant, 

 however, that with the ex- 

 ception of Prince's "Po- 

 inological Manual," none of 

 the fruit books that have 

 done much to mold public 

 opinion in America have 

 been known as Pomologies, 

 notwithstanding the fact 

 that the greater number of 

 idem have given great at- 

 tention to formal descrip- 

 tions of varieties. The 

 term Pomology is founded 

 on the Latin pomum, a 



word that was used generically for "fruit." In later 

 Latin it came to be associated more particularly with 

 the apple-like fruits. The word is preserved to us in the 

 French pomme, meaning "apple, "and in other languages 

 of Latin derivation. In English we know it as pome, a 

 botanical term used to designate fruits that have the 

 peculiar morphological structure of the apple and pear. 

 This use of the term is explained under the article Py- 

 rus. A pome is shown in Fig. 1889. The "core," inside 

 the light dotted line, is the ripened carpels; the flesh, 

 outside this line, is the thickened torus or receptacle, on 

 the top of which the calyx or "eye " is borne. However, 

 the root of the word Pomology is derived from the Latin 

 vomum rather than from the botanical pome. 



The limitations of pomology, as an art and science, 

 depend on the use of the word "fruit." This word, as 

 used by the horticulturist, is impossible of definition. 

 Products that are classed with fruits in one country 

 may be classed with vegetables in another. To the 

 horticulturist a fruit is a product that is closely asso- 

 ciated, in its origin, with the flower. As used in this 

 country, a fruit is the product of a bush or tree or 

 woody vine, the most marked exception being the straw- 

 berry. Most fruits may be grouped under three gen- 

 eral heads, orchard or tree fruits, vine fruits (of 

 which the grape is the type), and small fruits. Of the 

 orchard fruits, the leading groups are the pome fruits 

 (apples, pears, etc.), drupe fruits (peaches, plums, 

 cherries, etc.), and the citrous fruits (oranges, lemons, 

 etc.). The species of fruits that are fairly well known 

 in North America are not less than 150, but the impor- 

 tant commercial species are not more than 40. 



1890. Apple orchard at bearing aere, as seen in the northeastern states* 



