Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-10-25

IN every corner of the globe
But the great majority OF truly tropi
cal fruits are stayathomes. The inef
tia and languor of the climate is upoi
them, they are content to bloom an,
open and fall in the sunny valleys tina
gave them birth, without an aspiration
for anything beyond. TO see them it
their luscious beauty and charm, yot
must 80 to them, they will never com,
to YOU
think one of the most lovely of al
our tropical trees is the bread fruit |
is firm and symmetrical in shape, tn,
leaves are very large, deep green an,
glossy But why the fruit should b,
set apart as bread fruit, | never coul,
determine. Tomy childish Imagination
the name had literal significance.
pictured a wonderful Eden where tn,
Ioaves grew upon the trees, crisp anc
brown and steaming hot, ready for Eve
plucking But later years have dispel
led that with many other youthful illu
sions
"But oh, it gives but little Joy
Toknow I'm farther OH from heaven
Than when ! was boy ~
Bread fruit now is only bread as po
tatoes and taro, and numberless othe
edibles are bread A cannon bal
cheese" would be better description
of it, think. The green globes hanl
in the trees most sumptuously and
gathered at the right stage and baked
are very delicious eating. But Bostor
brown bread loaves, nor any other loave'
that ever tasted, they never can be
Perhaps the guava is one of the bes
known of our stay-at- at-homes Guavs
jelly is a favorite delicacy and, in thi.
form, the fruit is cosmopolitan. 1t i
exported in large quantities from the
West Indies, Tahiti and these islands
The white or sour guava, is the variety
used for jellies. 1t grows freely al
over these islands upon shrubs much
like ounce bushes. 1t is of the colo
and size of a lemon. The sweet var
iCtl 10 iHu'li iihS ahi piaiiSS III S'iape
and color, with pink, rich pulp thickl,
interspersed with seeds. Two othel
varieties brought here from Mexico
called the strawberryg guavaand redguav;
are quite unlike the true guava, though
bearlngthe familiar Thetreesupor
which they grow are large and beauti
ful, the fruit is abundant, drops earl,
from the tree, and decays rapidly.
But the characteristic fruit of the
Sandwich Islands is the mango. 1t i:
in every garden, and is purely tropi'
cal fruit. No midday sun is too no,
for these luscious apples of gold tc
riot in. Through all the summer noon,
and nights of moonlight splendor, you
can hear them dropping from the heavy
foliage, till the ground is heaped with
them and the air reeks with theil
decay. 1t is a beautiful fruit and
though the most common variety is
almost too luscious for q lastidious
taste, the chutney mango is delicate
delicious and juicy as a cherry. The
common fruit is larger than large
plum The pulp is threaded with fibres
which are attached to the seed. This
fibrous quality however is not found ir
the chutney mango, which is choicel
variety and more difficult of cultivation
1t is said, to get perfect cherry you
must go into the tree and pick it. This
is especially true Of figs produced upon
these islands. Nothing can be more
delicious >than a perfectly ripe fig
gathered in the early morning with the
night dews cool upon it. But packed
however carefully, with dainty ferns ol
fragrant fig leaves, your calabash of fig
cannot be carried mile in these troplt
suns without becoming inspid anc
limp-life and beauty all crushed ou
of them.
Among the gigantic fruits the grena
dilla has its place, growing upon tough
vine which hangs its immense foliage
over garden-wall or house-roof or neigh
boring tree, with ruthless energy. 1t is
a passion vine, its blossom magnificent
purple flower, swinging like a censer
and filling the air with overpowerins
fragrance. The fruit is large melor
with the edible portion inside the rind-
mass ofjuicy seed-bags, likea bowl full
OF stemless grapes.
The one fruit which the stranger al
ways wants to taste, and which ht
rarely likes at first, is the avocado, O
alligator pear as it is more commonl.
called. Like the olive, it is a for
eigner, and its name is delusion ant
snare. Why it is called pear unles
it is more unlike it than anything else
| cannot tell The fruit has been de
scribed with many derisive epithei
yet is undoubtedly true that the ave
cado has character of its own ant
will not he a nobody. 1t has life t
live, its friends are enthusiastically loya
to it, Their one regret is that tn
fruit is not perennial like the banana.
garden with avocados the year roun
would be paradise indeed. But
can never be prolific bearer upo
these islands. 1t does well only in We
regions, and yet in its most favored lc
cal:ties must have long resting spell,
years of barrenness. There are severs
varieties of the fruit--one has a dee
purple skin, Others are green, indi.
tinguishable from the foliage The Va
rieties differ in size and shape as well a
in color and quality, the largest AM
choicest varieties weighing fully thre
pounds. A long slender pit fills tn
middle of the iruit-the pulp is firn
and rich as the yolk of hard boile'
egg and it has nutty richness like tn
olive.
Perhaps the most showy Of our is
land hruis is the red ohia or mountain
apple 1t is lovely in blossoming time
when the flowers deck the trees witt
their scarlet tassels. The leaf is lik
the oranoe ,hict and GLOSSY and IN