47 



There is little inquiry for fruit of the Mandarin type in the 

 oversea markets; apparently the public fails to recognize that it 

 differs from, a small orange. 



THE POMELO OR " GRAPE FRTJIT." 



There are but few "Grape Fruit" trees in the whole of South 

 Africa, and those which we have do not appear to appreciate their 

 surroundings as do the other kinds of citrus fruits which have been 

 discussed previously. The fruit has neither the size, flavour, nor 

 appearance which the same varieties possess when grown in the western 

 hemisphere in Jamaica and Florida. These two countries at present 

 produce the choicer grape fruits ; they command the markets of Kew 

 York and London, and so far their position has been unassailable. 

 California, which is the premier citrus producing State in America, 

 cannot grow this fruit to equal the Floridan article, and what is more, 

 is not now making any very strenuous effort to do so, being content 

 to develop to the utmost those lines in which she excels. This is 

 sound business procedure. 



Where the Grape Fruit Flourishes. 



Bearing in mind the surroundings in which the grape fruit 

 flourishes best, it is only natural to assume if, in South Africa we can 

 find something similar in the way of climate, soil, and altitude, 

 together with proximity to ocean influences to that which exists in 

 Florida, that in such localities we should be able to produce this fruit 

 to the best advantage. Whether or not we shall be able to equal the 

 product of the countries already mentioned remains to be seen. Such 

 conditions as exist there are more nearly to be found in the coastal 

 districts of Natal and the south-eastern portion of the Cape Province 

 than in any other part of the Union. 



Necessity for Experimental Work. 



Very few trees indeed of any variety of pomelo are to be found in 

 those districts, and it is necessary that prompt experimental 

 work be undertaken in order to find out whether it is not possible 

 for South Africa to make just as great a success with the grape fruit 

 as she has done with other members of the citrus family. A beginning 

 has been made in Natal at the Experimental Station of the Cedara 

 School of Agriculture at Winkelspruit, and the work is also being 

 carried out with the same object in view at Eomgha, in the Cape, 

 hy Messrs. Flanagan Brothers. 



Before proceeding to discuss cultural methods, it may be as well 

 to state a few particulars with regard to this fruit, of which so little 

 is known in this country. 



What is the Pomelo? 



The Pomelo is a kind of extra fine Shaddock and is as superior to 

 that member of the citrus family as a Washington Navel is to a very 

 common thick-skinned seedling orange. It does not attain the same 

 great size as the Shaddock, and is without its coarseness, but contains 



