THE LOQUAT AND ITS RELATIVES 269 



below, with margins finely serrate. The flowers, which in 

 Guatemala are produced from January to May, are white, about 

 f of an inch broad, very numerous, on slender racemes 2 to 4 

 inches long. As many as fifteen or twenty fruits sometimes 

 develop on a raceme, but half or more fall before reaching matur- 

 ity. The ripening season in Guatemala is May to September. 

 The fruits resemble northern cherries in appearance ; they are \ 

 to | inch in diameter, and deep, glossy, maroon-purple in color. 

 The skin is thin and tender, though sufficiently firm for the fruit 

 not to be easily injured by handling. The flesh is pale green, 

 meaty, and full of juice, and the flavor sweet, suggestive of the 

 Bigarreau type of cherry, with a trace of bitterness in the skin. 

 The stone is rather large in proportion to the size of the fruit. 

 Pleasant to eat out of hand, this cherry can also be used 

 in various other ways, stewed, preserved whole, or made into 

 jam. In the highlands of Guatemala, where it is abundant, it 

 is usually eaten as a fresh fruit or made into a sweet preserve. 

 While not equal to the cultivated cherries of the North, fruits 

 which have been produced by generations of selection and 

 vegetative propagation, the capulin is a fruit of remarkably 

 good quality for one which has never had the benefit of in- 

 telligent cultivation and has been propagated only by seed. 

 Naturally, some trees produce much better fruit than others, 

 and it will be worth while to select the best seedling forms now 

 existing in tropical America and propagate them by budding 

 or grafting. 



THE MANZANILLA (Plate XIII) 

 (Cratsegus spp.) 



The manzanilla of Guatemala and the tejocote of Mexico 

 are fruits so similar in character that they may perhaps belong 

 to one species; the former is considered at present to be 

 Cratcegus stipulosa, Steud., and the latter C. mexicana, Mo?. & 



