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Pomona College Journal of Economic Botan 



has proved perfectly hard\'. And from our knowledge of the liardiness of the 

 plant, gained from the experience of tlie European growers, it is safe to say that 

 it will be hardy in practically all parts of California, except at very high alti- 

 tudes where low temperatures are experienced. 



Since the first importation of plants has come into bearing, many seedlings 

 have been raised, some of which are now in bearing. While the variation which 

 is natural to all seedling fruits has been exhibited by the Eeijoa, and many of 

 the seedlings have been disap]jointing, where good care has been bestowed upon 

 the plants the results have, in the great majority of cases, been highly gratifying. 



During the last few years several thousand seedlings have been raised and 

 disseminated by the nurserymen. Most' of these iiave gone into private gardens, 

 although several small plantations have been made, the largest of which is that 

 on the Henry E. Huntington estate near Pasadena, and consists of about four 

 acres. The j)lant has been used in a few instances as an ornamental hedge, for 

 which purpose it has proved to be admirable. 



During tlie ))ast season a small quantity of the fruit was placed on the Los 

 Angeles market and retailed at fifty cents per pound. 



California soils, if properly handled, seem to be particularly adapted to the 

 Feijoa, and the climatic conditions of most jiarts of the state have proved to be 

 most favorable to the development of the plant and the perfection of the fruit. It 

 has not been tried as yet in strictly desert regions, but it has been grown as far 

 into the interior as Redlands. There is no doubt but that when the requirements 

 of the jjlant are thoroughly understood and su|)})lied it will reach a high degree 

 of perfection in this state. 



The Feijoa in France 



In southern France the Feijoa has been given more attention from a horti- 

 cultural standpoint than in any other country. Yet almost nothing is known of its 

 requirements or varieties, except by a few horticulturists, and there are but a 

 few dozen good bearing plants in the entire country. Dr. Andre considered it 

 "one of the most imjjortant and most useful to horticulture of the hard-wooded 

 plants which he introduced into Europe on his return from La Plata in 1890." 

 Why this valuable fruit, in the fourteen years that have elapsed since it first 

 came into bearing, and in which it has been offered by the trade, has not assumed 

 a greater importance and become more widely planted, may perhaps be explained 

 by the statement of Viviand-Morel (Lyon-Horticole, XXXII, 1, p. 16): "Exotic 

 fruits do not please everA-body — we have so many in our own country that are 

 worth more than the mango, banana, pineapple and avocado of the tropics." The 

 French attitude toward horticultural novelties of this character is certainly not 

 like the American. Xot knowing the value of the Feijoa from their own personal 

 observation, and being satisfied with the fruits they already have, the French 

 gardeners are content to leave the culture of this fruit to someone else. It is only 

 through the persistent efforts of those broad-minded horticulturists who have the 

 perception to realize the value of such a fruit as the Feijoa, of which may be 

 mentioned such men as Dr. Robertson-Prochowsky of Nice, M. Clement Nabon- 



