166 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



In 1897 M. Grabham wrote a short article in the Journal of 

 the Jamaica Agricultural Society on the cultivation of the 

 cherimoya in Madeira. He asserted that " many of the estates 

 on the warm southern slopes of the island, formerly covered with 

 vineyards, have now been systematically planted with the 

 cherimoya" and went on to state that " the fruits vary in weight 

 between three and eight pounds, exceptionally large ones may 

 reach 16 pounds and over." This article, which has been 

 widely quoted, has been responsible for the current belief that 

 cherimoya culture in Madeira is more extensive than in any 

 other part of the world, and that exceptionally fine varieties 

 have been developed. 



Charles H. Gable, an American entomologist and horti- 

 culturist who worked in the island during 1913 and 1914, has 

 dispelled these illusions. Gable writes : 



" I found the cherimoya industry in Madeira very primitive indeed. 

 No effort has been made to commercialize the growing of this fruit. 

 Most of the trees are volunteers which have sprung up from dropped 

 seeds, or else they have been planted for shade, with perhaps a vague 

 notion that they might some day produce fruit. ... I do not know 

 any one in Madeira (and I have been over the entire island) who has 

 more than & dozen trees in bearing, and only a few have that many. 

 Most of the important islanders have at least one tree. ... At 

 least 95 per cent of all those on the island are seedlings. Occasionally 

 old trees are top-worked by a method of cleft-grafting, but this is not 

 highly successful. . . . There is no uniformity in the quality of the 

 fruits. Every gradation is found between smooth-surfaced and very 

 rough fruits. In those which resemble each other externally there 

 may be great differences in quality, acidity, number of seeds, and 

 other characteristics. I never got so I felt competent to pick out a 

 good fruit in the market. . . . The rough type attains the greatest 

 size. The largest specimen I was able to find weighed three and a half 

 pounds. ... I hesitate to make an estimate, but I do not believe 

 more than a thousand dozen fruits are exported from the island in a 

 year. . . . The trees receive no intentional cultivation. Vegetables 

 are often planted beneath them. A species of scale insect and the 

 mealy bug infest many of them. . . . The trees do not seem to do 

 well above 800 feet elevation. The ripening season is from the last 

 of November until the first of February." 



