Ube IRural /Manuals
EDITED BY L. H. BAILEY
MANUAL OF
TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS
Ube IRural Manuals
EDITED BY L. H. BAILEY
MANUAL OF GARDENING Bailey
MANUAL OF FARM ANIMALS Harper
FARM AND GARDEN RULE-BOOK Bailey
MANUAL OF FRUIT INSECTS Slingerland and Crosby
MANUAL OF WEEDS Georgia
THE PRUNING-MANUAL Bailey
MANUAL OF FRUIT DISEASES Hester and Whetzel
MANUAL OF MILK PRODUCTS Stocking
MANUAL OF VEGETABLE-GARDEN INSECTS Crosby
and Leonard
MANUAL OF TREE DISEASES Ranltin
MANUAL OF HOME-MAKING Van Rensselaer, Rose,
and Canon
MANUAL OF AMERICAN GRAPE-GROWING Hedrick
THE NURSERY-MANUAL Bailey
MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS
Popenoe
PLATE I. The Nimlioh avocado.
MANUAL OF
TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL
FRUITS
EXCLUDING THE BANANA, COCONUT,
PINEAPPLE, CITRUS FRUITS,
OLIVE, AND FIG
BY
WILSON POPENOE
AGRICULTURAL EXPLORER, UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
. '*> **
'!, ?*
Nefa
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920
Ml righto reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1920,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1920.
Nortoooti Jprrss
J. S. Gushing Co. Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFACE
MY intention in preparing the present work has been to
bring together, for the guidance of those who live in the tropical
and subtropical regions of the globe, the available information
concerning the principal fruits cultivated, or which may be
cultivated, in those regions. The banana, the coconut, the
pineapple, the citrus fruits, the olive, and the fig are not in-
cluded, however, since these have been fully treated by other
writers. Nor have I attempted to describe all of the fruit-
bearing plants of the tropics : rather has it been my aim to
concentrate on those which most seem to merit extensive
cultivation, the culture of many of which is as yet little under-
stood. No work in the English language has attempted to
cover this subject, and the few which have appeared in other
languages do not contain the data concerning propagation
and cultural practices which would make them useful to horti-
culturists. Unfortunately, as regards many of the less-known
fruits, few data are available, but concerning the more im-
portant ones the researches of such workers as E. Bonavia,
A. C. Hartless, and William Burns in India, H. A. Van Her-
mann, F. S. Earle, and C. F. Kinman in the West Indies,
George B. Cellon, Edward Simmonds, W. J. Krome, P. H.
Rolfs, and Reasoner Brothers in southern Florida, F. Franceschi
(E. O. Fenzi) and Ira J. Condit in California, J. E. Higgins
and his associates in Hawaii, P. J. Wester in the Philippines,
and L. Trabut in the Mediterranean region, have brought to
light much valuable information. The work of such men as
G. N. Collins, O. F. Cook, David Fairchild, W. E. Safford,
and Walter T. Swingle, of the Bureau of Plant Industry,
423708
VI PREFACE
United States Department of Agriculture, has also added
materially to our knowledge of the subject.
References throughout the book indicate the extent of my
indebtedness to these and other investigators. In order that
the work may reflect as fully as possible the total knowledge
at present available on any topic, I have drawn freely from
all sources, exercising, at the same time, all possible care to
avoid perpetuating the more than numerous errors with which
the literature of tropical fruits is burdened.
For the past seven years, during a large part of which time
I have traveled as Agricultural Explorer for the United States
Department of Agriculture, I have had exceptional oppor-
tunities for gathering, at first hand, information for this work.
In the course of my journeys I have visited Hawaii, Japan, the
Philippines, the Straits Settlements, India, Arabia, North
Africa, Mexico, Guatemala, the West Indies, and Brazil.
This field work has alternated with and been supplemented
by practical experience with the cultural problems of tropical
and subtropical fruit-growing in California and Florida. To
those familiar with the thorough and exhaustive treatises
which have been published on the northern fruits, however,
the present work will no doubt appear superficial in character.
Necessarily it is so. Present knowledge of the greater number
of tropical fruits is superficial, and many years must pass be-
fore it will be possible for a thoroughly comprehensive treatise
to be offered on any one of the species here considered, except-
ing possibly the date.
I have been assisted and encouraged in the preparation of
this work by many persons. It is a particular pleasure to
acknowledge my indebtedness to Charles Fuller Baker, now
Dean of the College of Agriculture, University of the Philip-
pines, under whose guidance I first took up work in tropical
pomology, and whose boundless enthusiasm for tropical plants
has been a constant inspiration to me; to F. Franceschi,
PREFACE vii
formerly of Santa Barbara, California, who was one of the
pioneers in the introduction and cultivation of tropical fruits
in California ; and above all, to my present chief, David Fair-
child, and my colleagues in the Office of Foreign Seed and
Plant Introduction of the Bureau of Plant Industry. To Dr.
Fairchild America is indebted for many choice varieties of
the mango, the date, and other tropical fruits which are now
cultivated in the United States, and for his assistance and
encouragement in my own investigations I owe him a debt of
gratitude which I can never pay.
W. J. Krome of Homestead, Florida, has criticized the
chapters on the avocado and mango, and added many notes
of interest and value to the former. W. E. Safford of the
Bureau, of Plant Industry has revised the chapter on the an-
nonaceous fruits, and Henry Pittier of the same Bureau that
on the sapotaceous fruits. To my brother, Paul Popenoe,
I am indebted for most of the chapter on the date. H. H.
Hume of Florida has criticized the chapter on the kaki. J. N.
Rose of the United States National Museum has furnished most
of the data on the tuna and pitaya. Sidney F. Blake of the
Bureau of Plant Industry has been of much assistance on
matters of botanical nomenclature. J. Smeaton Chase of
Palm Springs, California, has rendered valuable aid in the
preparation of the manuscript. To all of these men I express
my sincere appreciation of their help.
The line drawings with which this work is illustrated have
been made by Mrs. R. E. Gamble of the Bureau of Plant In-
dustry. Nearly all of them, as well as most of the half-tone
plates, are from my own photographs ; a few are from photo-
graphs by P. H. Dorsett of the Bureau of Plant Industry.
WILSON POPENOE
WASHINGTON, D. C.,
October 1, 1919.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGES
THE OUTLOOK FOB TROPICAL FRUIT . . fc 1-8
CHAPTER II
THE AVOCADO 9-78
Botanical description 11-14
History and distribution 14- 20
Composition and uses of the fruit .... 20- 23
Climate and soil .23-30
Cultivation 30-40
Tillage, mulching and cover-crops .... 32- 33
Fertilizer 33-36
Irrigation 36-38
Pruning 38-40
Propagation 40- 52
Stock plants 41-43
Essential features of bud propagation . . . 43- 44
Budding 44-49
Grafting 49-50
Top-working old trees 50- 52
The crop 52-54
Season 54-56
Picking, packing, and marketing 56- 58
Pests and diseases ....... 58- 65
Races and varieties 65- 78
West Indian race 69- 71
Guatemalan race 71-76
Mexican race 76- 78
Hybrids. , ... . . . . . 78
CHAPTER III
THE MANGO 79-145
Botanical description . . .
History and distribution . . . . . . 84- 92
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Composition and uses of the fruit
Climate and soil .
Cultivation
Propagation
The mango flower and its pollination
The crop
Pests and diseases
Races and varieties
Mulgoba group
Alphonse group
Sandersha group .
Cambodiana group
PAGES
92- 95
95-100
101-107
107-118
118-122
122-128
128-132
132-145
138-140
140-143
143-144
144-145
CHAPTER IV
RELATIVES OF THE MANGO
The cashew .
The imbu
The ambarella
The red mombin .
The yellow mombin
146-160
146-152
152-154
155-157
157-159
159-160
CHAPTER V
THE ANNONACEOUS FRUITS
The cherimoya
Cultivation .
Propagation .
The crop
Pests and diseases .
Varieties
The sugar-apple
The soursop .
The bullock's-heart
The ilama . .
Minor annonaceous fruits
Pond-apple .
Wild cherimoya
Mountain soursop .
Soncoya
Posh-t6 .
Biriba
161-195
161-177
169-171
171-174
174-175
175
175-177
177-182
182-186
186-188
188-191
191-195
191-192
192
192-193
193
193-194
194-195
TABLE OF CONTENTS xi
CHAPTER VI
PAGES
THE DATE 196-224
Cultivation . . . . 202-207
Propagation . . . ..... . . 207-211
Yield and season . . ^ . . . . 212-213
Picking and packing . . . . . . 213-216
Pests and diseases . 216-218
Varieties and classification 218-224
CHAPTER VII
THE PAPAYA AND ITS RELATIVES 225-249
The papaya 225-240
Cultivation 230-233
Propagation 233-237
Yield and market 237-238
Pests and diseases 238-239
Seedling races 239-240
The mountain papaya ....... 240-241
The purple granadilla 241-245
The sweet granadilla 245-246
The giant granadilla 247-249
CHAPTER VIII
THE LOQUAT AND ITS RELATIVES ..... 250-271
Theloquat 250-267
Cultivation 256-259
Propagation 259-261
Yield and picking 261-262
Pests and diseases 262-264
Varieties 264-267
Thecapulin 268-269
The manzanilla 269-271
The icaco 271
CHAPTER IX
FRUITS OF THE MYRTLE FAMILY . . . . . 272-311
Theguava . . , 272-279
The strawberry guava 279-283
Other guavas . . ... . . . 283-286
Costa Rican guava 283
Xll
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Guisaro .
Brazilian guava
Para guava .
The pitanga .
The feijoa .
The jaboticaba
Other myrtaceous fruits
Grumichama .
Jambolan
Rose-apple . *
Pera do campo
Pitomba
Ohia .
Uvalha .
Cabelluda .
Guabiroba
Downy myrtle
PAGES
284
284-285
285-286
286-292
292-299
299-302
302-311
302-304
304-305
30&-306
307
307-308
308-309
309-310
310
310-311
311
CHAPTER X
THE LITCHI AND ITS RELATIVES
The litchi .
Cultivation .
Propagation .
Yield and season .
Pests and diseases .
Varieties
The longan . . . .
The rambutan
The pulasan .
The akee .
The mamoncillo
312-333
312-325
317-321
321-323
323-324
324-325
325
325-327
327-329
329-330
330-332
332-333
CHAPTER XI
THE SAPOTACEOUS FRUITS
The sapodilla
The sapote .
The green sapote .
The star-apple
The canistel .
The abiu
334-352
334-340
340-343
343-344
344-347
347-349
349-350
TABLE OF CONTENTS
X1U
The yellow sapote
The lucmo
PAGES
350-351
351-352
CHAPTER XII
THE KAKI AND ITS RELATIVES .
The kaki or Japanese persimmon
Cultivation .
Propagation . . .
Picking and shipping
Pests and diseases . _ . '
Varieties . . ,
The black sapote . . .
The mabolo .
353-374
353-370
357-359
359-363
363-365
365-366
366-370
370-373
373-374
CHAPTER XIII
THE POMEGRANATE AND THE JUJUBE
The pomegranate . .
The jujube
CHAPTER XIV
THE MANGOSTEEN AND ITS RELATIVES
The mangosteen . . .
Cultivation '
Propagation . . . .
Season and enemies of the mangosteen
The mamey .
The bakuri . ...
The bakupari
CHAPTER XV
THE BREADFRUIT AND ITS RELATIVES
The breadfruit . ' . . .,
The jackfruit
The marang
CHAPTER XVI
MISCELLANEOUS FRUITS
The durian
375-389
375-383
383-389
390-405
390-401
394-397
398-400
400-401
401^03
403-104
405
406-420
406-414
414-419
420
421-455
421-425
xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES
The santol 426
The langsat . . . . . . . . . 426-428
The carambola . . . . . . . . 429-431
Thebilimbi . . . . . . . . . 431-432
The tamarind . . . . . . . . 432-436
The carissa .... /. .... 436-439
The ramontchi . . . ... . . 439-441
The umkokolo . 441-443
The ketembilla . . . ' . . . . . 443-445
The white sapote . . . . ... . 445-448
The tuna . 448-450
The pitaya 451-452
The tree-tomato 452-453
The genipa 454-455
BIBLIOGRAPHY 455-457
INDEX . . 459-474
PLATES
PLATE PAGE
I. The Nimlioh avocado Frontispiece
II. Four or five tortillas (corn cakes) and a good-sized
avocado are considered a good meal by the Guatemala
Indians 24
III. Avocado-growing in the Mexican highlands ... 46
IV. Puebla avocado tree producing its first crop at two years
of age ; the Fuerte avocado ..... 68
V. Inflorescence of the Alphonse mango ; a Cuban mango-
vender 90
VI. The Sandersha mango ; the ambarella . . . .110
VII. Red mombins on the tree 132
VIII. The cherimoya at its best ; the soursop and other fruits 150
IX. The home of the Fardh date; in the date gardens of
Basrah 176
X. A date palm in full production ; the purple granadilla 190
XI. A tropical substitute for the cantaloupe, the papaya ; a
papaya in bearing 208
XII. A plate of fine loquats 230
XIII. The wild cherry of Central America (Prunus salicifolia) \
the manzanilla (Cratcegus stipulosa) .... 250
XIV. Feijoas ready for gathering 280
XV. A fruiting jaboticaba tree 292
XVI. Flowers and fruits of the rose-apple (Eugenia Jambos) 306
XVII. The litchi, favorite fruit of the Chinese . . .324
XVIII. Foliage and fruits of the akee (Blighia sapida) . . 350
XIX. The sapodilla (Achras Sapota) 370
XX. The rambutan and other fruits; a basket of green
sapotes 386
A young kaki tree in bearing 400
A basket of pomegranates ; the black sapote . . . 420
The jackfruit (Artocarpus integrifolia) , the largest
tropical fruit 438
The mangosteen ; the durian 456
xv
MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND
SUBTROPICAL FRUITS
CHAPTER I
THE OUTLOOK FOR TROPICAL FRUITS
THE thickly peopled countries of the Temperate Zone
must look more and more to the tropics to supplement their
own food resources, whether by direct supplies, made possible
in increasing measure by ever-improving means of trans-
portation, or by furnishing plants which may be cultivated in
mild-wintered regions such as California and Florida. Both
forms of contribution will be largely in the item of fruits. As
examples of the first class, the banana, because of its immense
yield and quick production, has already been exploited on a
large scale, and the coconut, through its product copra, has
become an economic factor of prime importance; in the
second (or rather, in both) the avocado, still a novelty but of
very great possibilities as adaptable to growth in our own
country, is on the verge of taking a high place among the food
crops contributed by the tropics.
Many other fruits of the Torrid Zone, not all of them so
important, yet all valuable in degree in the dietary of the race,
must be grown in ever-increasing quantities, not only to supply
northern markets, but also, and even more important, -
to enable the native populations of the tropics as well as settlers
from the North to obtain abundantly and cheaply this most
wholesome source of human energy.
B 1
2 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS
For, strange as it may seem to many who have never lived
or traveled in the hot belts of the earth, those lands come far
short of conforming to that conventional idea of the tropics, as
regions where luscious fruits grow wild upon every tree and the
languorous native has only to stretch forth his hand to obtain
his dinner. It is a well-attested fact that the inhabitants of
many tropical countries suffer for want of sufficient fresh
fruit ; and it is also true that much real starvation in densely
populated hot regions, India for example, could be averted by
planting on a wholesale scale fruit-trees such as the avocado,
whose product has a relatively high food value.
The reason for this scarcity of fruits in precisely those
regions where, by climatic indications, one would expect them
to be most abundant, is not to be found in any single fact,
but is, perhaps, largely the result of three causes : first, the
enervating effect of heat, which discourages man from under-
taking work which can be avoided; second, the one-sided
exploitation of many tropical regions for the production of
materials such as rubber and cotton, without sufficient regard
to supplying wholesome foodstuffs for those who labor in
producing these articles ; and third, the long time required by
tree-fruits to yield returns, as compared with the annual crops
such as corn, beans, and squashes. This last factor is par-
ticularly disastrous where primitive races of people are con-
cerned, for such almost invariably devote their attention in the
main to crops which give quick returns, the very crops which
must depend absolutely on the season's rainfall.
It is, indeed, only as scattered, often neglected, specimens
in dooryards and around cultivated fields that many of the
tropical fruit-trees exist. Others, such as the mango and the
breadfruit, are given more attention, yet they rarely receive
more than a fraction of the solicitous care which northerners
lavish on their apples, peaches, and pears.
With the exception of a few species, such as the banana
THE OUTLOOK FOR TROPICAL FRUITS 3
and the coconut, the tropical fruits have received scientific
attention only when their culture has been brought northward
to the extreme limit of their zone, as, in the case of certain of
them, it has been in California and Florida. Even here their
study and improvement have only been undertaken in very
recent years ; many species, in fact, are still in the condition of
wild plants, so that it is no wonder their fruits are sometimes
looked on by northern horticulturists as almost without value.
The case is well put by Hartwig, who writes, in his work " The
Tropical World":
"It may easily be imagined that the tropical sun, which
distills so many costly juices and fiery spices in indescribable
multiplicity and abundance, must also produce a variety of
fruits. But man has yet done little to improve by care and art
these gifts of Nature, and, with rare exceptions, the delicious
flavor for which our native fruits are indebted to centuries of
cultivation, is found wanting in those of the torrid zone. In
our gardens Pomona appears in the refined garb of civilization,
while in the tropics she still shows herself as a savage beauty,
requiring the aid of culture for the full development of her
attractions."
The exceptions to this condition, however, are notable, and
scarcely so rare as Hartwig and others have believed. The
mango, in its finer Indian varieties, offers an example of im-
provement through selection and vegetative propagation which
equals that of the peach, if indeed the advance from wild to
cultivated forms has not been greater in the former than in the
latter fruit. Those who have tasted the luscious Pairi mango
of Bombay, or the Mulgoba as now grown in Florida, will
recognize the probable accuracy of this statement.
Many other tropical fruits might be mentioned which
compare favorably with the best products of high cultivation in
the Temperate Zone. Who, that has had the opportunity of
judging, has not felt, as he lifted the snowy segments of the
4 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS
mangosteen from their cup of royal purple, that here was a
fru t not excelled by any other in the world? The cherimoya
of tropical America leaves little to be desired, while the litchi
is preferred in China, not without reason, to the finest orange or
peach. American residents in Hawaii consider the papaya
the most delicious of breakfast-fruits, surpassing in their esti-
mation the cantaloupe or muskmelon. To the Japanese taste
there is no better fruit than the kaki, while to the Arab the date
is the quintessence of richness and flavor.
The ignorance, or tardiness of adoption, of the art of graft-
ing has, in many tropical countries, prevented the development
of superior fruits. The superb apples and pears of the Tem-
perate Zone, and the splendid mangos of India, could not be
grown without grafting, since improved varieties of nearly all
tree-fruits tend to revert to the wild type when propagated by
seed. The finest fruits are, in fact, artificial productions which
can only be maintained by artificial means; under free com-
petition of natural selection they would disappear.
Because of this rare occurrence, among tropical fruits, of
fine horticultural varieties as compared with the profusion of
semi-wild seedlings, much criticism has been ignorantly directed
at these fruits in general. C. F. Baker, who has done much
to advance the science of tropical pomology, graphically states
the case as follows :
"On hearing some aspersions cast upon the caimite (Chryso-
phyllum Cainito), a valuable and delicious fruit at its best, a
Cuban was heard to remark, 'There are caimit.es, and there are
caimites ! ' A similar remark might be made of most tropical
fruits. The methods of seed selection, of breeding, and of
vegetative propagation have rarely been brought to bear on
any of these things. As for systematic search for the better
forms now existing, and the rapid building up of really com-
prehensive experimental plantations of them in the tropical
botanic gardens and experiment stations, we have yet a field of
THE OUTLOOK FOR TROPICAL FRUITS 5
highly useful, most remunerative, and intensely interesting
work before us."
It is to this field that attention must be devoted, if the agri-
cultural development of the tropics is not to become even more
one-sided than it is to-day. British horticulturists in India and
Ceylon, French in the Oceanic colonies, and American in the
subtropical parts of California and Florida, as well as in the
West Indies, Hawaii, and the Philippines, have done notable
work during the past quarter of a century; yet when their
achievements are considered alongside the possibilities, it is
evident that hardly has a beginning been made with this
promising field.
" Botanicus verus," said the great Linnaeus, " desudabit in
augendo amabikm scientiam," - "The true botanist will sweat
in advancing his beloved science." Even so must the inves-
tigator who undertakes to further the progress of tropical
pomology expect to find hard work, at times under trying
climatic conditions, to sweat indeed, unless his lot is
cast in the delightful climate of the tropical highlands, or in
subtropical regions such as California and Florida. But the
subject is one which offers such a wealth of fascinating problems
and gives promise of such valuable results, that for a long
time to come it can hardly fail to attract the needful few among
the many whose tastes incline them toward pomological pur-
suits.
It is indeed fortunate for our country that its boundaries
include areas where certain of the most valuable tropical fruits
can be cultivated. Of these areas, the warmer parts of Florida
and California seem destined, by reason of their favorable
situation with respect to the great centers of our population,
to take the lead in the production of such fruits for supplying
the northern markets. The advantageous climate of these
states as regards living and working conditions, as compared
with the tropics, makes it probable also that they will be the
6 MANUAL OF TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL FRUITS
field of more activity along lines of horticultural investigation
than will the strictly tropical countries where the fruits are
native. Of course, it is not possible to cultivate within the
boundaries of the continental United States all of the fruits
discussed in this work. Many of them are uncompromisingly
tropical in character and refuse to accommodate themselves to
regions where the temperature ever falls as low as the freezing
point. It is a noteworthy and hopeful circumstance, however,
that certain of the tropical fruits attain their greatest per-
fection when grown at the extreme northern or southern limit
of their zone, when pushed, so to speak, right up against the
frost-line. For example, the citrus fruits have been brought
in California and Florida to a higher degree of excellence than
has been reached by them in strictly tropical regions.
It has been thought in the past that it might be possible, by
means of a process of acclimatization, to adapt even the more
tender species of tropical plants to conditions in California and
Florida, and ultimately to cultivate them on a commercial
scale in those states. In the light of present knowledge, how-
ever, it seems probable that ability to withstand frost is not
greatly increased by submitting a plant to lower temperatures
than those to which it has been accustomed, even when this
is carried through several consecutive generations, and the