FOREIGN FRUITS AT HOME ON OUR WEST COAST 
LEE McCRAE 
Plant Colonists From All Over the Map — Many Countries Have Contri- 
buted Toward the Development of California’s Widely Diversified Fruitage 
Mfi|gJOST of the best fruits of the entire globe may be found 
!||n||| somewhere in the United States, and there is on the 
Pacific Coast a wider range of accommodating con- 
ditions than in any other defined region. One county 
of California alone, Orange County, already established in public 
confidence for its fine yearly yield of oranges, affords a com- 
fortable home to at least thirty distinct kinds of immigrant fruit, 
beside Olives, Apricots, and the Citrus group, all commonly 
grown. 
Some of these, such as St. John’s Bread, Feijoas, Pomegran- 
ates, Persimmons, Jujubes, Varnish Nuts and Camphor, seem 
to have become entirely reconciled to the general climatic 
conditions. Others, notably the Mango, Sapote, Cherimoya, 
Date, Papaya, Avocado and Nutmeg, demand special thermal 
and soil conditions. My neighbor’s wonderful Avocado orchard 
has a water spray beneath each tree, and while the trees were 
rooting each had its screen of burlap to protect it from the chill- 
ing sea breezes. Of course they are worth it from every point 
of view. A successful orchard is pecuniarily a decided asset, and 
the Avocado, or alligator-pear, is said to contain more nutri- 
ment, pound for pound, than prime sirloin steak. It easily leads 
in combined food-value and market price. 
The Cherimoya or Custard-apple, though as yet scarcely 
known by us, is prized by the Peruvians above all other fruits. 
Strawberry shaped, but looking like a big soft green pine cone, 
the fruit has a pulp very like delicious ice cream. Like the 
Avocado, it requires great care in this section, and is exacting 
as to its habitat. It is a wonderfully ornamental tree with dense 
and glossy foliage. 
St. John’s Bread or Carobs, on the other hand, is most accom- 
modating and is becoming one of the shade trees of the highways, 
thriving without irrigation and seeming to prefer arid hillsides. 
If the land is really good one cannot afford to plant Carobs be- 
cause of their slow growth and meager production. The 
“bread” comes in the shape of a pod containing small seeds, 
chocolate-colored on the outside and tasting not a little like 
chocolate; and although John the Baptist was supposed to have 
lived upon it, it is better for stock food than for human beings. 
Feijoa trees grow only about eight feet high, their leaves are a 
dark glossy green on top and almost white underneath, the 
flowers very showy. The fruit, which looks like an elongated 
apple, combines the flavor of the pineapple and banana, and 
makes the finest of jams and jellies. When fully ripe it is 
delicious eaten raw. In my brother’s orchard his one Feijoa 
tree is irrigated with the rest of the “family orchard” (consisting 
of sixty trees and representing almost that many distinct kinds 
of fruit), and seems to thrive under the same sort of care. 
The Sapote needs a mild coast atmosphere where it attains 
a height of twenty feet. Its leaves are five-fingered, and its 
large, yellow fruit tastes much like a peach. Wherever the 
Willow will grow — given warmth — the Sapote will thrive. 
With it the Sapodilla has often been confused. Both came orig- 
inally from South America, but they are different in many ways 
and the Sapodilla fruit is much more delicious, especially when 
preserved. 
There are only a few Mango trees here, and these were intro- 
duced from Florida where, according to report, they are reputed 
to bear the “ best dessert fruit in the world.” The Mango needs 
great care, a mild atmosphere, and plenty of water. 
Loquats from Japan are now among the commonest fruit trees 
in California. (One is thriving among the shrubbery of my 
yard from a self-planted seed, and will be transplanted to the 
orchard this fall). They set their fruit during the winter months, 
and as the earliest on the local market, it is eagerly sought by 
the housewife. It grows in clusters, is small, yellow, large- 
seeded, and, while good eaten raw, makes peculiarly fine jelly. 
Occasional irrigation is all the Loquats need here to become 
large trees. 
The Kumquat, also from Japan, is so small that it is used as 
an ornamental upon lawns, or is grown in pots after being budded 
on Citrus trifoliata. Some varieties will stand considerable 
cold, but demand a moist climate like that of their native home. 
The fruit is like a miniature orange. 
Chayotes are grown on a vine that — after being cut back al- 
most to the root — will, in its second season, grow from forty to 
fifty feet and bear a thousand fruits by actual count. They are 
the shape of an egg-plant, pale green in color, with squash-like 
rind. We are told to “ use them like you would potatoes,” baked, 
fried, or boiled; they may also be served raw as a salad. Indeed, 
the Chayote ranks almost as a vegetable and is so placed in 
the Los Angeles seed catalogues. One yard in the city has its 
pergolas and arbors in the rear covered with this vine, the owner 
declaring they bring her more money for less care, and give 
better shade than anything else she could put there. 
The Jewish people send to Italy for the Citron which they 
use in their ceremonials; yet, with good care, a full supply for 
them and for the whole United States could be grown in this one 
PAPAYAS FROM HAWAII THRIVING IN THE OPEN 
Near La Habra, Orange County, with ordinary care. The fruit, which 
ripens almost continuously throughout the year, resembles the avocado 
in appearance and delectability, and deserves to be more widely marketed 
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