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NOVEMBER, 1911.
Subtropical Fruits
A Department of Tropical and Subtropical Horticulture
BY F. W. POPEONE
NOTES ON THE PROPAgATION AND CULTURE OF PLANTS AND TREES COMING WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THIS DEPARTMENT WILL BE WELCOMED, AND INQUIRIES ARE INVITED.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF TROPICAL FRUITS
Very few of the tropical fruits have ever been given any systematic attention with a view to the production of superior varieties by selection or by breeding. Practically the only exception is the case of the mango, which has been under careful cultivation for many years, and by the marching process choice seedlings have been produced. The magnificent varieties now to be found in that country go to demonstrate what can be done with fruits when systematic attention is given to them.
In the case of such fruits as the pineapple and the banana, which have been cultivated in the tropics for immemorial, the subject assumes a different aspect. In the first place, aborigines would take suckers from the choicest plants to set in their provisions, and thus through centuries of selection the individual plants which were most desirable resulted in the present perfection of these fruits. Both have reached the wild state, and the wild form is entirely done away with, and it would seem that there is little hope of any further improvements in the fruits.
Particularly attractive are the fruits indigenous to the tropics, many of these have been known to Europeans but a comparatively short time, and have had no share in the slight attention that has been given to the improvement of modern methods of plant breeding what marvelous results could be achieved if they were treated in any of these fruits. Many fruits already cultivated have their value greatly enhanced, while others classed as of no value could doubtless be made of great content as to make them worthy of general culture. The greatest perfection of our temperate fruits, such as the apple, the peach and the pear, is only the result of a long period of effort on the part of those interested in their improvement. There are many opportunities where there is little doubt but that such fruits as the avocado and the passion fruit will be found to be amenable to improvement as to be scarcely recognizable to one who was only familiar with their primitive forms.
It is to be hoped that the day is not far distant when the same care and attention will be given to the tropical fruits as has been given to the temperate fruits. When they are, and when the general public becomes aware of the fact that there is a difference between a bud- dled mango or avocado of a choice variety and a wild form of the same fruits, that there is between a budded Washington nectarine and a wild form of some inferior wild type, the present misapprehension with which many of the best fruits are regarded will disappear. No intelligent planter would dream of planting seedlings of any of our commercial fruit trees, such as the orange, the lemon, the plum, the peach, the plum, yet this same thing has been done with many of our choice tropical fruits. In a short time people will come to realize this difference between nursery stock and wild forms, the value of a known variety, and the disappointment of a wild form, and is still resulting, from the planting of seedling trees will be done away with.
BUD AVOCADOS THIS MONTH
Local experience has shown that November is one of the very best months for the work of budding the avocado. The operation may be performed with success at any time of the year in which the bark will slip, better results have followed budding out in November than in any other month.
Seedlings intended to be budded should be in active, vigorous growth at the time of the operation, and for this reason it is preferable to those grown in pots or in the open during the summer, or that have been dug up and stored in a cool, dark, place for a few weeks. Vigorous growth when grown in a pot, as when in the field, is indicated by the presence of about a half inch in diameter, al- though the size of the leaf is not so important as the vigor of the root. Rather than that of a lead pencil can be budded with good success, the large size of the leaf is due to the fact that the root is more vigorous and rapid growth of the bud.
The budwood must be young, the last growth being large as possible, with plenty of buds. If the buds are blown, that is, beginning to grow, the wood is too old. After taking and leave a blind bud. Cut the buds large, an inch or two in length, and then leaving the use of the stock in which they are to be inserted, cut the stock to the same waxed tap. When they begin to swell, the buds are ready to be "taken," which will be from three to six weeks after insertion, according to the season. The bud should be cut off, and then rewrapped loosely to prevent drying. The stock should be left and leaving the bad exposed to the air at the point of union. The tree should be watered well, and kept moist for inches of the bud. Lopping is frequent, and the stock will snap off rather than he lopped, and the bud will be lost. After the operation, making a cut at an angle of about 45 degrees, and bending it over very gently. The trees should be gone over frequently and all the buds that have not taken stock rubbed off. When the bud has taken, the bark of the stock may be trimmed back to it, and the tree allowed to develop until suitable size to plant out.
FRUIT OF FEIJOA, OR PINEAPPLE GUAVA, NATURAL SIZE.
FRUIT OF FEIJOA, OR PINEAPPLE GUAVA, NATURAL SIZE.
VALUE AND USES OF THE AVOCADO
Much has been written lately of the uses to which the avocado can be put in the tropics, especially in its native home, the Huasteco Valley, in Peru. There this fruit is known under the name of paita, and in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries the name has been adopted. The English have corrupted this name into avocado, which has now become accepted as the most desirable name for an English-speaking country.
The people of the paita's native clime, which is Peru, South America, never eat the fruit until it is ripe (it should never be eaten until it is fully ripe). They simply remove the pit or stone, leaving the soft, oily meat in its own jacket, which makes a delicious food to which to eat it. It is seasoned with salt and pepper, and with lime, and is eaten from the shell or spread as butter on bread, in which way it is used in Peru.
Seasoned with a few drops of lemon juice, it makes a delicious dressing for cold meats, especially lamb, veal, beef, or mutton.
The paita is also used in salads of mustard, with cold baked salmon. If you have never tasted the paita, I love with the entire human family, the Digger Indian thrown in.
Dr. J. H. Hume, a man of much eminence in the city of Huanuco, once said that the paita was useful in the case of indigestion, sour stomach, or constipation with my people who use the fruit as a vegetable food, and men, who come from the coast, say that the paita is reflected with indigestion and its kindred diseases have been restored to perfect health by eating the free fruit of the paita as a food."
Let every one who lives in a semi-tropical climate cultivate the paita in his garden, giving it the greatest care, as it will be a joy to the whole family, and they will soon learn to appreciate the wonderful gift of God's most precious gifts to man.
I would prefer to have a paita tree in my garden above all other fruits I know, except perhaps the king of all fruits, the avocado, or the guava, and I would rather have one paita tree in my yard than two apothecary shops.
THE QUEENSLAND NUT.
As a commercial proposition for Southern California the Queensland nut (Macadamia ternifolia) presents good possibilities. This tree has been grown here for fifteen or more years, and has proved itself admirably adapted to our conditions in every respect, even to being extremely hardy. It will stand our dry seasons without artificial irrigation.
In Australia, where the tree is native, the nuts are gathered from the wild trees, and it is reported that a
