532 



ripened in bran or in a dry place, till it is quite soft. It has a 

 slight flavour of chocolate, and is very sweet, but fruits vary a good 

 deal, in the matter of flavour as well as in size. The largest I re- 

 member to have met with was imported from Sumatra and was 3^ 

 inches long and 3 inches wide and weighed eleven ounces. 



The Sapodilla, can be grown from cuttings or marcottings, or 

 trom seed. It is said to fruit earlier from cuttings than from seed. 

 It grows fairly fast in rich soil and fruits when quite small. I have 

 even seen plants grown in a kerosine tin bearing a fair supply of 

 fruits. 



The Star-apple Chrysophyllum Cainito, also a native of South 

 America, has been long in cultivation here, but the fruit is small 

 about as big as an olive, dark claret colour and not worth eating. 

 It is perhaps better in its native country. 



The fruit of the Bunga Tanjong ( M imu sops elengi), is mentioned 

 in Le Maout and Decaisnes system of Botany as a valuable tropical 

 fruit under the name of the West Indian Medlar, I doubt if here 

 even Malays would eat it. 



The Sau, Mimusops Kauki, is cultivated in Malacca where are 

 some very fine old trees. It is a handsome tree with orange fruits 

 considerably larger than those of Mimusops Elengi, and decidedly 

 more eatable. 



Ebenace/e. 



The best fruit of this order cultivated here is the Butter fruit. 

 Mabola of the Philippines, Diospyros discolor. 



This is a very handsome bushy tree about thirty feet high with a 

 dense crown of large dark green leaves. The flowers borne along 

 the branches in small tufts are creamy white. The fruit produced 

 abundantly, is as large as a large peach bright pink in colour, but 

 covered with a yellowish brown fur, easily rubbed off. The flesh 

 is cream coloured, and when properly ripened is of the softness of 

 butter, whence its name. It has a flavour of strawberries and is 

 certainly an excellent fruit as well as a very beautiful one. It has 

 however rather a strong scent which is not pleasant to all persons. 

 The fruit should be taken off when fully developed and put by in a 

 dry place to ripen. 



The value of the fruit depends much on its being perfectly soft and 

 ripe when eaten. Occasionally it does not ripen properly but re- 

 mains rather firm in texture and though even then quite eatable and 

 not at all to be despised, the flavour of the fruit is not fully brought 

 out . The finest tree I have seen is in the Botanic Gardens in Penang 

 but there are also fine ones in Singapore and other parts of the 

 Straits. The Butter fruit (Bua Manteiga), is by no means as much 

 cultivated as it should be. It is rarely to be seen in any but the 

 Botanic Gardens and such places, though the Chinese began to 

 cultivate it some time ago 1 have no information as to the fruits 

 having been seen in the market as yet. 



The tree is raised from seed, of which there are several of fair 

 size in each fruit. It is of fairly fast growth and soon becomes a 

 qandsome tree. The fruit is ripened in June to September. I have 



