182 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS 



habitually load themselves with fruit, for they rarely do so. 

 A mature tree, fifteen feet in height, may produce several dozen 

 fruits in a season. Usually all of them do not ripen at one time ; 

 thus the season is much longer than that of the cherimoya. In 

 Florida it is common to pick ripe fruits during as many as six 

 months out of the year. When the fruits are fully ripe, they 

 burst open on the tree. They should be picked before reaching 

 this stage and placed in the house, where they will soften in 

 one to three days. After they have softened and are ready 

 for eating, they must be handled with care. The fruit of the 

 sugar-apple is not so well adapted to shipping long distances 

 as that of the cherimoya. 



Seedlings usually come into bearing when three or four years 

 old. Some are much more productive than others, and there 

 is much variation in the size and quality of fruit produced by 

 different trees. When a tree has proved to be unusually good, 

 it should be propagated by budding. 



THE SOURSOP (Plate VIII) 



(Annona muricata, L.) 



For the preparation of sherbets and other refreshing drinks, 

 the soursop is unrivaled. Those who have visited Habana 

 and there sipped the delectable champola de guandbana will 

 agree with Cubans that it is one of the finest beverages in the 

 world. Soursop sherbet is equal to that prepared from the 

 best of the temperate zone fruits, if not superior to all other 

 ices. 



The tree is more strictly tropical in its requirements than the 

 cherimoya or the sugar-apple. It withstands very little frost, 

 and succeeds best in the tropical lowlands. Though widely 

 disseminated, it is nowhere grown on an extensive scale. This 

 is due, most probably, to the scanty productiveness which 

 characterizes the species in general. There is an opportunity 



