20 



THE CUBA REVIEW. 



POMELOS OR GRAPE-FRUIT. 



A Staple Commercial Fruit — Quality of Cuban Grape-Fruit all That Can be 



Desired — Cultivation in Cuba Earlier Than in Florida — Valuable Kinds 



Fully Described — Cultivation and Care. 



BY H. HAROLD HUME. 



The pomelo is known by a number of different names and there is in conse- 

 quence some confusion concerning the exact fruit which any one writer may have 

 in mind. In most of the English colonies and by English writers it is called 

 shaddock. Horticulturists in the United States to-day generally make a decided 

 distinction between the shaddock and the pomelo. 



The shaddock is a much larger fruit, coarse and poor in quality, larger in 

 size, often weighing ten to fifteen pounds, larger in leaf, smaller in tree and worth- 

 less as a coniimercial fruit. On the other hand, the pomelo is a staple commercial 

 fruit, excellent in quality, tonic and refreshing. In all American markets it goes 

 by the name grape-fruit, a name first applied to it in the West Indies, and quite 

 descriptive of the fruit, as it is frequently borne in large bunches like grapes. In 

 the writer's opinion that is not a desirable characteristic. Fruit borne in clusters 

 is always stained and soiled where the fruits touch, and if scale insects are present 

 on the trees, even in small numbers, the places where the fruits touch each other 

 in the bunches is a favorite breeding place for them. 



Pomelos are not native anywhere on the American continent. They had their 

 origin in the Malayan Islands, and from there were introduced into India. In 

 fact, there is evidence to show that it was brought to Calcutta from Java some- 

 thing less than three hundred years ago. From India it was carried to the Barbados 

 Islands by an English sea captain, Captain Shaddock. From this sea captain the 

 fruit took the name shaddock. Subsequently it was introduced into others of the 

 West Indian Islands, Florida and the countries of South and Central America by 

 the early Spanish travelers. It will thus be seen that the cultivation of the fruit 

 in Cuba was begun at least as early, if not earlier, than it was in Florida. 



It is a comparatively new fruit commercially. Its market history extends back 

 only twenty-five or thirty years. The first fruit shipped from Florida brought very 



Cluster of grape-fruit on 3-year-old tree in 

 garden of J. E. Downen, at Las Minas. The tree 

 yielded three boxes. 



A new pomelo, carrying its fruit on single 

 stems, instead of in clusters. 



