THE LITCHI AND ITS RELATIVES 323 



tional experience is required, however, to show the practical 

 value of the longan and other stocks. The field is an interesting 

 one, and important results are likely to be secured. 



Yield and season. 



Seedling litchis have been known to bear fruit at five years 

 of age. It is commonly held that they should bear when seven 

 to nine years old. In some instances, however, trees twenty 

 years old have failed to produce fruit. Higgins remarks, " Wide 

 variability in the age of coming into bearing has been noted 

 with seedlings of other tropical fruits, especially the avocado, 

 but the litchi appears most extreme in this respect." 



Layered plants tend to bear when very young. Sometimes 

 they will flower a year after planting, and mature a few fruits 

 when two years old, but three to five years is the age at which 

 they normally come into bearing. 



The litchi is famed as a long-lived tree. An early Chinese 

 account (not necessarily to be credited) mentions one which 

 was cut down when it was 800 years old. Bonavia considered 

 that litchis should remain in profitable bearing for a century 

 at least. Mature trees have been found in Hawaii to yield 200 

 to 300 pounds of fruit yearly, and crops of 1000 pounds have 

 been reported. Under good cultural conditions, the tree can 

 be expected to produce a crop every year. Again quoting 

 Bonavia, it may be said that the tree "bears annually an 

 abundant crop of fine, well-flavored and aromatic fruits, which 

 can readily be sent to distant markets. Instead of being planted 

 by ones or twos, it should be planted by the thousand." 



In picking the fruit, entire clusters are usually broken off, 

 with several inches of stem attached. If the individual fruits 

 are pulled off the stems, they are said not to keep well. After 

 they are picked the fruits soon lose their attractive red color, 

 but they can be kept for two or three weeks without deteriorat- 

 ing in flavor. The Chinese sometimes sprinkle them with a salt 



