MISCELLANEOUS TROPICAL FRUITS 517 



For immediate use the fruit should be allowed to ripen on the tree. 

 If it is to be stored or shipped long distances it should be gathered before 

 it fully ripens. If hand picked, wrapped in paper and packed in small 

 packages, it will keep for several weeks. The keeping period may be 

 lengthened by cold storage. 



The fruit is best prepared for eating by placing on ice, until thoroughly 

 chilled. In this 

 condition it may 

 be readily peeled 

 and sliced. The 

 fruit isused chiefly 

 in the fresh state, 

 although in the 

 tropics where 

 grown it is fre- 

 quently used for 

 sauce or made into 

 pies and has great 

 possibilities for 

 various forms of 

 preserves. 



The Banana. 

 — The banana is 

 strictly a tropical 

 fruit. It is a large 

 herb, with aperen- 

 nial root stalk. 

 The top grows 

 rapidly and 

 reaches a height of 

 from ten to thirty 

 feet, depending on 

 variety. It 

 requires from 

 twelve to fifteen 

 months from time 



of planting to the maturity of the fruit. Each plant bears one cluster of 

 fruit, and upon its maturity the plant dies. Numerous shoots arise from 

 the base of ^the original plant. Most of these are removed for use in 

 establishing a new plantation, but some are left to take the place of the 

 old plant. 



Within the past thirty years the banana lias become popular in the 

 markets of the North and is quite extensively used. It excels in the ease 



A Top- worked Mango Tree in Fruit. 1 



■Courtesy of U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. From Annual Report, Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, 1913. 



