936 ,FEUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



My opinion is that they were originally planted, by Malays who lived 

 there, and abandoned their settlements owing to internecine wars, or to 

 change lands. The Malays are more or less of a nomadic disposition. 

 Their abandoned orchards, indigenous as the mangosteen tree is, took 

 care of themselves like other forest fruit trees, and the seeds of the 

 fruits, dropped here and there by birds and monkeys, rooted easily. 



The wild mangosteen fruit is just as good as the cultivated, only a 

 little smaller. My experience is that the trees yield fruit, generally 

 very abundantly, about three times in two years, or, to be very safe, four 

 times in three years. 



In seasons when rain squalls and fine weather alternate regularly, 

 with a slight preponderance for rain, they bear best. The tree, in ground 

 and atmosphere, likes much moisture. If the natives, throughout the 

 mangosteen-producing countries and islands named, should once become 

 aware that they can sell the shell of the fruit, or that it had become an 

 article of export, there would be no great difficulty in securing immense 

 quantities of the same, and, the trade once inaugurated, it is my opinion 

 they might be had for less than $300 per 100 kilos. The average size of 

 the fruit is about the same as medium-sized apple, while the average thick- 

 ness of a shell is about one-third of an inch. The fact is, there is 

 " more shell than fruit." I firmly believe that the said shells would 

 make first-class "tanning material," that they are well worth a trial in 

 our tanneries, and it is my opinion they might prove a valuable dye- 

 stuff as well. 



A. J. Studek, 



Consul. 



Consulate of the United States, 



Singapore, June 14, 1881. 



CULTIVATION OF TROPICAL FRUITS. 

 SAMOA. 



With regard to the circular of September 28, inclosing a list of ques- 

 tions about different tropical fruits, I am sorry to say that I can give 

 no information. 



Oranges and lemons grow wild in Samoa; they are not cultivated at 

 all. There are no figs or olives grown here. 



W. Blaoklock, 



Vice-Gonsul. 

 United States Consulate-General, 



Apia, Samoa, December 6, ISSO. 



