288 Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany 



a quarter in length. If cut smaller than this^ on account of the rapid callousing 

 and thick bark of the Anonas^ the buds have difficulty in starting and are choked 

 out. Insert the buds exactly as in budding citrus fruits^ and tie with waxed tape. 

 At the end of three or four weeks they should be unwrapped^ and if alive^ the 

 tree should be lopped back and the bud rewrapped loosely, leaving the "eye" 

 exposed so that it may start into growth. The buds of the Cherimoya are sunk 

 into the bark tissues, and there is not the danger of their dropping and leaving 

 a "blind" bud that there is with the avocado. 



In Madeira and the Canary Islands grafting is extensively practiced. Dr. 

 Trabut, in the Bulletin Agricole de I'Algerie et de la Tunisie, advises grafting 

 as being much more successful than budding. Two-year-old seedlings are used, 

 the operation itself being a simple cleft-graft. 



Figure 128. Showing a collection of the different types of seedling Cherimoyas 

 occurring in Southern California — these from one grove at Hollywood. 



Culture 



Experience in California has shown that the Cherimoya thrives under the 

 same treatment accorded the Citrus fruits. The seedlings grow to much larger 

 size than any of the Citrus trees, however, and should be planted at least twenty- 

 five feet apart. Budded trees will probably require less room, as budding d^varfs 

 the tree to a certain extent. 



The tree has proved to be about as hardy as the orange — though this must 

 be largely a matter of variety — and is semi-deciduous in nature, the extent being 

 dependant upon the severity of the climate. 



Whether seedling or budded, the tree ordinarily comes into bearing about 

 the fourth year. The fact that large trees are quite frequently unproductive, 

 though blooming profusely, has led to a series of investigations by P. J. Wester 

 of the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, which throw considerable light on the matter, 

 although there is still much to be learned. ^Ir. Wester found that the flowers 

 of the Cherimoya were unable to fertilize themselves because of the pistils 

 maturing before the stamens, and consequently not receptive to the pollen when 



