The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-13

Mangoes the Fruit of the Future.
/ Uncle Sans experts are pushing the
mango, it is said, with the expectation
( that when 1t becomes as well known,
! it will be as popular in this country as
the banana, says the Fruit Journal. In
| the tropics it outranks the banana and
| is in equal favor with the orange.
| Whether the departments expectations
! for it in the temperate zone will be
realized is a question to be determin-
ed henceforth.
1t is said that European residents IN
the hot belt almost always acquire
fondness for this fruit. AS yet, how
ever, il is little known in the United
States. being represented only by small
amounts in our markets, which the
experts claim, give no suggestion OF
the qualities of the better sort, and
tend rather to discourage than in
crease demand.
If an effort similar to that which
brought the banana to favor in this
country could place an adequate sup
ply of mangoes before the public, it is
believed that this tropical fruit should
repeat the history of its popular pred
ecessor. Already the tree which bears
ii has been planted TO a considerable
extent in Florida, seeds of fine varie-
ties having been brought from India,
and soon planters in Florida expect to
be sending mangOes in large amounts
to market. Some of the Florida trees
are yielding as many as 10000 fruits
per tree in a season, so it is said.
The mango tree grows under all
sorts of conditions, and requires little
cultivation. 1t is so prolific that with
twenty-five to 100 trees to an acre
enormous quantities of the fruit may
be produced on a small tract. The
mango varies. according to variety,
from little more than a bush to a tree
30 to IS feet high. Its flowers are small,
and reddish, white or yellow. The
fruits of some kinds are only two or
three inches in diameter, but others
are three or four times that size.
weighing as much as four pounds In
shape they vary from nearly spheri-
cal TO long and narrow like a cucum-
Der. In the best vafities fiber is al
most entirely absent, and the entire
fruit consists Of a mass of juicy
orange colored pulp. In some kinds the
pulp is so firm that it may be sliced
with a knife; in others it is soft
enough to be eaten with a spoon.
The mango is said to have originat-
ed in Southern Asia and the Malay
archipelago. 1t IS now found wild in
the forests of Ceylon, and in regions
at the base of the Himalayas. 1t was
introduced first in Brazil on this con-
tinent, and thence was taken to the
Barbados in 1912
At the present time il is common
throughout the tropics all around the
world, but is finest in India. There are
over 500 varieties Ii is the most high
~ priced fruit of the Island of Guam.
receives more attention in Hawaii
than any other fruit. and fiourishes
with special luxuriance on the south
side of Porto Rico. The mango is used
principally as fresh fruit, but is also
employed green for jelly and sweet
pickles 1t makes an excellent MARINA
lade- In Porto Rico one may buy 100
mangoes for 8 cents. at which price
their cost for seilies and marmalade is
normal They are one of the chief in
gradients of the famous chutney sauce
of India The unripe fruit peeled, cut
from the stone and dried, is reckoned
superior to lime juice as a preventive
or cure for scurvy. In India the bark
and leaves are utilized for dyes, and
Indian yellow, so familiar as a water
color paint, is product of the mango,
as has recently been ascertained
though previously it's origin was I'M
known. The gum of the tree is a good
substitute for gum arabic. In fact, the
mango may almost be said to rival the
olive in respect to the multitudinous
ways in which it is serviceable to man.