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But the seedlings so abundant throughout the tropics do not
represent this fruit at its best. While of good flavour, they are
commonly characterised by coarse fibres throughout the flesh which
makes eating an annoying process. In contrast, the fine grafted
varieties which have originated in India and a few other regions,
as well as seedlings of the excellent race cultivated in the
Philippines as well as in several other parts of southeast Asia (known as Manila in Mexico and Filipino in Cuba) are almost devoid of fibre and of excellent quality.

In 1889 the U.S. Department of Agriculture introduced into
Florida the first of the grafted East Indian mangoes to be known in
this country, the variety Mulgoba. In subsequent years, mainly
through the efforts of Reasoner Brothers and of David Fairchild,
more than fifty other varieties were brought to the U.S., whence their cultivation gradually spread to many parts of the American tropics. Some of the best of these are Pairi (known as Bombay in Jamaica), Borsha, Amini. In addition to these such varieties as Carabao from the Philippines and Saigon from Cambodia should be mentioned, as well as Julie which first received horticultural attention in the French West Indies and has become popular in Jamaica and elsewhere. Due to the failure of many of the best varieties to produce regular and heavy crops of fruit, they have been replaced in commercial orchards by Haden (a seedling of Mulgoba which originated in Florida) and others which have recently been developed in this part of the world.

Mango trees are injured by a few degrees of frost. They are successfully grown commercially in southern Florida, but they have not been wholly successful in California, though occasional trees have fruited in that state. The mango is not particular as to soil, but the finer varieties only produce fruit abundantly where there is a well marked dry season to stimulate production of fruit rather than continued vegetative growth. There is another serious problem in rainy areas: a fungous disease known as anthracnose (Colletotrichum) which destroys the flowers and young fruits and is expensive to control.

Propagation of the better varieties is by means of grafting or budding. Inarching is widely practiced in tropical Asia, but is