1648 
Notes from Agricultural Explorers in the Field , 
Wilson Popenoe writes from Guayaquil, Ecuador, 
December 18, 1920: 
"I have just returned from a three days' trip to 
see a very remarkable collection of plants some 25 
miles from here . It appears that a certain Senor Madinya 
developed a magnificent cacao estate called Payo , and 
when he got established and was receiving a large in- 
come, he started a collection of palms and fruit 
trees. He went to Paris several times, and brought 
back seeds and plants from Vilmorin Andrieux and Co., 
and on the way home he evidently stopped in Jamaica 
and added to his collection by buying a lot of grafted 
mango trees, etc., at Hope Gardens. 
"We found at Payo a great many rare and inter- 
esting things . There are a number of oil palms (Elaeis) 
in bearing, and a lot of rare ornamental plants. There 
are Peters and Gordon mangos from Jamaica, with the 
fruit .falling on the ground and going to waste; ram- 
butan, in bearing, and what I am sure is a grafted 
tree of the litchi, several Rheedias, Eugenias, the 
carambola, and others. 
"But the most interesting of all is a group of 
about ten mangosteen trees, {Gareinia mangostam) the 
ground beneath them covered with dry, hard fruits 
which have been allowed to rot untouched. These trees 
are said to be about 15 years old. They range from 10 
to 20 feet in height, and all look exceedingly heal thy 
and vigorous. The past crop must have fallen to the 
ground four or five months ago; and the new crop, 
which is going to be a good one, is coming on well. 
"Nothing I have ever seen has so greatly encour- 
aged me in the belief that we can produce mangosteens 
commercially in our tropical American dependencies as 
these trees at Payo. They may have been well cared 
for the first few years of their existence but they 
get no care whatever at present, -and still they are 
.in excellent condition and fruiting heavily. They are 
on level ground about 100 feet distant from a small 
river, and about 20 feet above the level of the water. 
The trees never receive any irrigation, yet there has 
been no rain for' about seven months. Doubtless the 
subsoil is fairly moist, for this region -is about 50 
feet above sea level. But it seems to me that, once 
the mangosteen is past its infancy, it is as easy to 
grow as any other tree." 
