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 marcot tings, or 
from 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. Ch.ry sophy llum 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 betfer in its native country. 
The fruit of the Bunga 1 anjong [M imusops 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^ M imusops Kauki , is cultivated in Malacca where are 
some very tine old trees. It is a handsome tree with orange fruits 
considerably larger than those of M imusops Elengi , and decidedly 
more eatable, 
Ebenace/e. 
The best fruit of this order cultivated here is the Butter fruit. 
Mabola of the Philippines, Lhospyros 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. 
I he fruit should be taken off when fully developed.and put by in a 
dry place to ripen. 
1 he 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 ail 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 anv but the 
Botanic Gardens and such places, though the Chinese began to 
cultivate it some time ago I hav v e no information as to the fruits 
having been seen in the market as yet. 
t The tree is raised from seed, of which there are several of fait 
size in each fruit. It is of fairly fast growth and soon becomes a 
ijandsome tree. The fruit is ripened in June to September. 1 have 
