4 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



mangosteen from their cup of royal purple, that here was a 

 fru t not excelled by any other in the world? The cherimoya 

 of tropical America leaves little to be desired, while the litchi 

 is preferred in China, not without reason, to the finest orange or 

 peach. American residents in Hawaii consider the papaya 

 the most delicious of breakfast-fruits, surpassing in their esti- 

 mation the cantaloupe or muskmelon. To the Japanese taste 

 there is no better fruit than the kaki, while to the Arab the date 

 is the quintessence of richness and flavor. 



The ignorance, or tardiness of adoption, of the art of graft- 

 ing has, in many tropical countries, prevented the development 

 of superior fruits. The superb apples and pears of the Tem- 

 perate Zone, and the splendid mangos of India, could not be 

 grown without grafting, since improved varieties of nearly all 

 tree-fruits tend to revert to the wild type when propagated by 

 seed. The finest fruits are, in fact, artificial productions which 

 can only be maintained by artificial means; under free com- 

 petition of natural selection they would disappear. 



Because of this rare occurrence, among tropical fruits, of 

 fine horticultural varieties as compared with the profusion of 

 semi-wild seedlings, much criticism has been ignorantly directed 

 at these fruits in general. C. F. Baker, who has done much 

 to advance the science of tropical pomology, graphically states 

 the case as follows : 



"On hearing some aspersions cast upon the caimite (Chryso- 

 phyllum Cainito), a valuable and delicious fruit at its best, a 

 Cuban was heard to remark, 'There are caimit.es, and there are 

 caimites ! ' A similar remark might be made of most tropical 

 fruits. The methods of seed selection, of breeding, and of 

 vegetative propagation have rarely been brought to bear on 

 any of these things. As for systematic search for the better 

 forms now existing, and the rapid building up of really com- 

 prehensive experimental plantations of them in the tropical 

 botanic gardens and experiment stations, we have yet a field of 



