February, 1911 



or not. This is the fault of many of these 

 high-grade mangoes. It is possible that 

 this difficulty may be remedied by root- 

 pruning, girdling, or by a proper fertilizing. 



I have a little book on the mango written 

 by Woodrow of India, the man who 

 sent Mulgoba plants to Florida in 1889, 

 in which over eighty varieties of mangoes 

 are listed and this is probably not more 

 than half of the varieties now known, many 

 of which are of recent origin and many of 

 which are no good. 



For instance, the Alphonse, Alphoos or 

 Alfoss is highly prized. Higgins thus 

 describes it: "This is one of the most 

 noted of the India mangoes. Size, medium 

 to large; color, greenish yellow on the un- 

 exposed side and running to yellow on the 

 exposed side, which is overlaid with light 

 red; peeling qualities excellent; texture ex- 

 cellent, may be readily eaten with a spoon; 

 flavor unique, with a peculiar mingling of 

 acidity and sweetness in the bright colored 

 fruit." In looking over Woodrow's list, on 

 the other hand, one runs up against all 

 kinds of Alphonses. For instance: 



Afonza of Goa; Alphonze, Kirkee, "the 

 keeping qualities of this fruit are excellent 

 and it is generally admitted the best of all 

 mangoes. The ' name is applied in the 

 ■markets to many distinct sorts of greatly 

 varied merit." (The italics are mine.) 

 Kola-Alphonse; Kagdi-Alphonse, Bombay; 

 Surawini Alphonse, Bombay. In fact, it 

 seems that whenever they found a really 

 good mango, they called it Alphonse. 



The Mulgoba, Cambodiana and a long 

 yellowish kind from Burmah are my 

 favorites. There is a little mango in 

 Florida about the size of a peach, yellow 

 in color, with a beautiful pink blush on one 

 side. It has a thin skin, no fibre and deli- 

 cious flavor. It is commonly called the 

 ■"peach mango" and was raised from seed 

 sent from Jamaica. For home use one 

 would hardly wish for a more perfect fruit. 



The Khatkia, according to Woodrow, 

 is meant to be sucked while others such 

 as Fernandino II. of Goa is a cook- 

 ing mango of special value. It should 

 be stated to the credit of the mango that 

 good apple pies can be made from the green 

 fruit. The merits of the many kinds is a 

 fruitful topic of discussion among mango 

 cranks. Conclusions are not warranted 

 as yet. It takes time to settle such ques- 

 tions. Some of the old timers with per- 

 verted taste settle it by saying that the 

 common turpentine mango is good enough 

 for anybody. 



The mango belongs to a disreputable 

 family, the Spondiaceae or sumac family. 

 It is probably the most respectable of all 

 its relations. It is represented in Florida 

 by a poison tree {Metopium Metopium) 

 commonly called hog plum, poisonwood, 

 bumwood and doctor gum. It includes 

 the cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale) , 

 the jobo, pronounced hobo, and should be 

 spelled the same way {Spondias lutea), 

 the famous pepper tree (Schinus molle) 

 so common in California, and the cassava 

 (Manihot Manihot). 



THE GARDE X M AGAZINE 



19 





The mango is not unlike a peach tree, but evergreen, and in its season laden with the golden yellow fruit 



In spite of the highly poisonous nature 

 of many plants of this family, the mango 

 is very wholesome although I have heard 

 of one or two cases of "mango rash" due 

 presumably to the excessive eating of this 

 fruit. Negroes in many parts of the tropics 

 practically quit work during mango season 

 devoting themselves assiduously to mak- 

 ing the best of a good thing while it lasts. 



The mango is a beautiful, broad-spreading 

 shade tree. Its rounded crown and dense 

 foliage form a perfect shelter from the sun. 

 It has a dark green leaf larger than, but sim- 

 ilar in shape to that of the peach. It is never 

 leafless. The young leaves are a beautiful 

 pinkish red. The tree grows to be very 

 large and groups of such trees around the 

 homestead are striking features of many 

 tropical landscapes. 



The flowers are small but profuse and a 

 dry winter season is favorable to a good 

 crop. Some of the common mangoes bear 

 heavily almost every year, the branches 

 bending to the ground with the weight 



of fruit. In planting the seed it is best to 

 remove the outer covering or case by care- 

 fully cutting the margin with a sharp 

 knife. The seed may contain two or three 

 embryos so that it is often possible to se- 

 cure two or even three trees from a single 

 seed. It is a promising fruit for South 

 Florida and although it bears in the summer 

 when peaches and other northern fruits 

 are in the market, it will sell on its merits 

 and besides there is the probability of 

 keeping it in cold storage till winter, when 

 the tourists come with plenty of money 

 and good appetites for the fruits of the 

 land. By this means, too, the railroads 

 and commission men may be prevented 

 from robbing the owner of the fruits of his 

 toil. Ten years in the future Florida 

 mangoes will be famous. Many local va- 

 rieties will be developed and perfected 

 and become as well and as favorably known 

 as is the Florida standard grapefruit or 

 pomelo. The same prediction applies to 

 the avocado or alligator pear. 



