154 



Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



than Mr. David Fairchild. in charge of the Agricultural Explorations of the U. S. 

 Department of x\griculture. himself a man of wide experience in tropical coun- 

 tries and familiar with the mango in its native home. He states : "The mango 

 is one of the really great fruits of the world. India, with its hundreds of millions 

 of people, has for centuries held it sacred, and celebrates annual ceremonies in 

 its honor. The great Mogul Akbar. who reigned in the sixteenth century, planted 

 the famous Lak Bag. an orchard of a hundred thousand mangos, and some of 

 these still remain alive. It is a fruit the importance of which Americans are at 

 last beginning to recognize, notwithstanding the unfortunate discredit which some 

 of the worthless seedling mangos of Mexico and the West Indies have given it in 

 the minds of Americans generally. 



"There are probably more varieties of mangos than there are of peaches. I 

 have heard of one collection of five hundred different sorts in India. There are 

 exquisitely flavored varieties no larger than a plum, and there are delicious sorts 

 the fruits of which are six pounds in weight. In India, where the wage of a 

 coolie is not over 10 cents a day. there are varieties which sell for $6.60 a hundred 

 and the commonest sorts bring over a cent apiece. 



"The great mango trees of India are said to reach a height of seventy feet, 

 and are so loaded down with fruit that over $loO worth has been sold from a 

 single tree. 



"These fine varieties, practically as free from fiber as a freestone peach, can 

 be eaten with a spoon as easily as a canteloupe. Trainloads of these are shipped 

 from the mango-growing centers of India and distributed in the densely peopled 

 cities of that great semitropical empire ; and yet, notwithstanding the great im- 

 portance of this fruit, the agricultural study of it from the new standpoint has 

 scarcely been begun. I believe that it has never, for example, been tested on any 

 but its own roots." 



The mango has received only the slightest attention in California, but its 

 inherent value and the fact that it has been proven to be a possibility for parts 

 of the state have seemed to warrant the preparation of this preliminary paper 

 on the subject. 



Its Present Status in California 



So few mango trees have been planted in Southern California, and these 

 have been of such a nondescript character, that no adequate trial can be said to 

 have yet been made of this fruit. Xot until superior forms are given a trial under 

 a variety of conditions, and afforded every possible assistance to make them a 

 success, will we deflnitely know what can be expected of the mango in this state ; 

 and yet the results with the few seedlings now in bearing have been so encour- 

 aging as to leave little room for doubt as to the future possibilities of this fruit 

 in California. 



In considering the behavior of, and results obtained from the trees which have 

 fruited here it is important to take into consideration the fact that they have, 

 almost without exception, been subjected to the most adverse conditions — condi- 

 tions which would prove fatal in a year to the majority of our temperate fruits — 

 and under these circumstances the behavior of some of these trees is truly re- 



