

THE SAPOTACEOUS FRUITS 337 



synonymy is rather extensive: Achras Sapota, L., Sapota 

 Achras, Mill., and Sapota zapotilla, Coville, are sometimes 

 used. 



The sapodilla is preeminently a dessert fruit. Rarely is 

 it cooked or preserved in any way, although in Cuba and Brazil 

 it is often made into a sherbet. According to Carl Wehmer 1 it 

 contains about 14 per cent of sugar, of which 7.02 is saccharose, 

 3.7 dextrose, and 3.4 levulose. It also contains a small 

 amount of acid and about 1 per cent of ash. 



Although tropical in character, the sapodilla does not require 

 a high degree of humidity nor entire freedom from frost. If 

 liberally irrigated it can be grown in regions where the atmos- 

 pheric humidity is low. The plant while young is injured 

 by temperatures below freezing, but when mature it withstands 

 27 or 28 above zero. Although it prefers a rich sandy loam, 

 it thrives on light clay and also on the shallow sandy soil 

 underlaid with soft limestone which is found on the lower east 

 coast of Florida. Indeed, its aptitude for rocky and forbidding 

 situations on the Florida Keys is remarkable. It is said to grow 

 well in India both on red sandy soil along the seashore and in the 

 black alluvial land of the Dekkan. 



It is the custom in India to plant sapodilla trees 15 to 20 feet 

 apart. This is too close for the best results, particularly if 

 the soil is rich and deep so that the tree grows to large size; 

 30 feet apart is probably close enough on good soils. V. N. 

 Gokhale, writing in the Poona Agriculture College Magazine 

 (1911), reports that in India the young plants are set in pits 1 

 foot wide and 2 to 3 feet deep in which a quantity of sheep- 

 manure has been mixed with the soil, and that the mature trees 

 are regularly supplied with manure two or three times a year. 



Little attention has yet been given to pruning. Since the 

 tree is of slow compact growth, it will probably require nothing 

 more than the removal of an occasional unshapely branch. In 

 1 Die Pflanzenstoffe. 





