90 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



not reach Jamaica until 1782. Its introduction into the latter 

 island is described by Bryan Edwards : 1 " This plant, with 

 several others, as well as different kinds of Seeds, were 

 found on board a French ship (bound from the Isle de France 

 for Hispaniola) taken by Captain Marshall of his Majesty's 

 Ship Flora, one of Lord Rodney's Squadron, in June, 1782, 

 and sent as a Prize to this island. By Captain Marshall, 

 with Lord Rodney's approbation, the whole collection was 

 deposited in Mr. East's garden, where they have been cul- 

 tivated with great assiduity and success." Thirty-two years 

 after its introduction, John Lunan stated that the mango had 

 become one of the commonest fruit-trees of Jamaica. 



It is said to have been introduced into Mexico at the same 

 time as the coffee plant, early in the nineteenth century, the 

 introducer having been D. Juan Antonio Gomez of Cordoba. It 

 is evident that Mexico has received mangos from two sources ; 

 some from the West Indies, and others from the Philippines, 

 brought by the Spanish galleons which traded in early times 

 between Acapulco and Manila. 



The cultivation of the mango under glass in Europe was 

 attempted at an early day. A writer in Curtis' Botanical 

 Magazine in 1850 says : "The mango is recorded to have been 

 grown in the hothouses of this country at least 160 years ago, 

 but it is only within the last twenty years that it has come into 

 notice as a fruit capable of being brought to perfection in 

 England. The first and, we believe, the most successful 

 attempt was made by the late Earl of Powis, in his garden at 

 Walcot, where he had a lofty hothouse 400 feet long and between 

 30 and 40 feet wide constructed for the cultivation of the mango 

 and other rare and tropical fruits; but within these last few 

 years we have known it to bear fruit in other gardens." 



In the United States, cultivation of the mango is limited to 

 southern Florida and southern California. It is believed the 

 1 History of the West Indies, 1793. 



