58 PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURAL REVIEW. 



EXPERIMENTS IN SHIELD BUDDING. 



After repeated attempts the shield-budding experiments at the 

 Lamao experiment station with the camia (Averrhoa Bilimbi) 

 and the santol (Sandoricum koetjape) have been successful, 

 and it has also been found that the barobo (Diplodiscus panicul- 

 atus), a nut tree indigenous to the Philippines (Dillenia indica), 

 and the sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera), may be propagated by 

 means of shield budding. Detailed information relative to the 

 budding of these plants will be published on the completion of the 

 experiments. 



IMPROVEMENT OF TROPICAL FRUITS IN THE PHILIPPINES. 



The average fruit is so poor that most foreigners never give 

 any attention to the santol, and the fruit is a drug even in the 

 native markets and enormous quantities annually rot on the 

 ground. Few are aware that there are mutations among the 

 santol trees the fruit of which in point of flavor vies with the best 

 fruits in the Tropics, and that in this respect it is superior even 

 to its celebrated relative, the lanzon (Lansium domesticum) , the 

 greatest defects being the large seeds and the adherence of the 

 flesh to the seeds. If the seed in these superior santols were 

 abortive in the same proportion as those in the mangosteen, 

 the now despised santol, with its translucent pulp, separable 

 from the pericarp as that of the mangosteen, subacid, juicy and 

 of a vinous, excellent flavor, would rapidly become one of the most 

 popular fruits in the Tropics. Its thick, tough "rind" should 

 make the santol at least equal to the mangosteen as a shipper. 



What is probably the first horticultural, asexually propagated 

 variety of the santol is now being established at the Lamao 

 experiment station from buds obtained by Mr. F. Galang, as- 

 sistant agricultural inspector, from a tree in Pampanga, the 

 fruit of which is so highly prized locally that the fruit never 

 retails below the relatively high price of 2 centavos apiece even 

 when other santols are so plentiful as to be literally unsalable. 



Mr. B. Malvar, assistant agricultural inspector, has obtained 

 in Batangas budwood of a sweet-fruited camia which is also 

 being propagated. This is the first mutation of this kind coming 

 to the attention of the writer. 



The collection of Philippine citrus fruits of economic value 

 or of botanical interest has been in progress since in 1911, but 

 no systematized selection work in the mandarin district has been 

 attempted until December, 1914, when Mr. B. Malvar was de- 

 tailed to visit the citrus region in Batangas. Mr. Malvar re- 



