2gS 
tion must of course be taken to this statement as applied to pine- 
apples since Singapore has for a long time been famous for supply- 
ing the world with the largest quantity and the best quality of 
preserved pines. It is probable that later we may also preserve in 
quantity others of our local fruits, in the form of jams or jellies, or 
in other forms. On this subject I will speak later. 
The number of kinds of fruit more or less good in our region 
whether native of the East Indies or introduced from other tropiqal 
countries is very large. Indeed almost all the really eatable fruits 
of the world have been at one time or another introduced into the 
Straits, of these many have failed to grow, some have grown well 
but produced no fruit, some highly spoken of by travellers in other 
parts of the world are found here at least to be either not worth 
eating or wholly uneatable. Thus the beautiful looking Coco-plum 
( Chrysobalanus Icaco) a native of Brazil, grows well and fruits 
abundantly, but its fruit, a pink plum with ajine bloom on it, has 
pithy hardly sweet and often astringent flesh, even fruit-loving 
animals hardly care for it, and I never found any person care to 
take a second bite from it. 
Besides tropical fruits most; of the European fruit trees have 
been introduced and tried on the hills and in the plains, but chiefly 
in the garden half way up Penang hill. There olives, apples and 
many other trees and shrubs of cooler climates have been tried. 
The olives grew well but failed to flower which might be expected 
as they are natives of the dryer regions cf Southern Europe. 
Peaches, plums, cherries, and apricots have never produced fruit 
here. Apples fairly good and of fair size were produced in 
small quantities on one or two trees, but one cannot at 
all recommend the cultivation of these fruits, as the expense 
is out of all proportion to the result. The only pear tree I 
ever saw that fruited here was .a Chinese one in Singapore 
which produced one of those very woody fruits such as are 
often sold in our markets. It was considered a great curiosity. 
Strawberries again have been from time to time cultivated in the 
Eastern tropics, and have even produced small fruits in Singapore, 
but they were quite flavourless. But these temperate climate 
fruits are not worth cultivating except as curiosities. The tropical 
fruits from both hemispheres at e the ones to which we must devote 
serious attention. And first it must be noted that the colonist 
here as a rule has a remarkably limited acquaintance with the 
fruits of the country. His boy purchases for his table a few- 
second rate bananas, inferior mangosteens, very occasionally a 
papaya, or rambutans when very cheap, or q field pineapple, and 
after a course of desserts of this kind, the colonist condemns 
tropical fruit as quite worthless, and pines for first class English 
fruit. Cooked fruit for pies or puddings is a thing unknown in 
very many houses. It is often asked by residents, why fruit trees 
are not cuHivated so as to improve the flavour, and develop the 
fruit as has been done in Europe. To ask this question is to show 
the profoundest ignorance of the principles of selection by which 
the fruit of Europe has been developed to its present high pitch of 
