The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1947-04-24
Tropical Fruits
Popular Volume
b JOHN 4. vosBURcH

City Editor. Key west Git1en
A book almost made to order
for Key Westers is Fifty Trop-
ical Fruits Of Nassau" by Kendall
and Julia Morton. Forty-six Of
the fruits described and photo
graphed in this delightful volume
are grown on this island, authori-
ties say.
Consequently, Key Westers-
especially the more recent ar
rivals from the North-will find
the Mortons' book a highly in
formative work. It opens brand
new vistas Of gustatory delicacies
available at our very doorstep.
In fact. the first thing this re-
viewer did after reading the Nor
ton book was to pick promptly
one of the unimpressive fruits
hanging from the sapodilla tree
in his front yard. Following the
Mortons' instructions, the fruit
will be kept until soft to the
touch.
ut is then luscious" the Nor
tons inform US, "eaten out-of-
hand or halved and spooned from
the skin j. The flesh =. in many
fruits is very fine, with smooth
texture and sweet, rich flavor"
Needless to say, Fifty Trop-
ical Fruits" is already smash
hit with horticulturists. At Har-
ward it recently was made re-
quired reading in classes study
ing tropical products. The fine
quality of the book is not sur
prising, for the scholarly authors
who dropped into The Citizen
office the other day, have a zest
for. their work and a knowledge
gained from many years in re-
search on fruits for more tech
nical publications.
The Mortons, who live in New
York and Nassau, do their own
photography as well as writing
and took all of the SIS photo
graphs with Leica 35 nm cam
era and ordinary incandescent
lighting. Their volume contains
an introduction by. DR.. David
Fairchild, eminent plant explor-
er and for many years head of
the Division of Plant Exploration
and Introduction of the US. De-
partment of Agriculture.
This prominent authority de-
scribes the Mortons book as
thoroughly trustworthy :.
beautifully illustrated care
fully documented book for which
people in many tropical regions
will be thankful"
DIR: Walter M. Boswell, curator
of the Boswell Herbarium, Uni
versity of Miami, Fla, says: "The
unusually good photographs and
excellent arrangement of the spe-
cimens illustrating each article,
with the very interesting descrip-
tions of the fruits and how to use
them, make this valuable addi-
ton to books on tropical fruits
a book that should be in every IL
hrary." So
Key Westers would do well to
consider seriously the cultivation
and popularizing of many of these
fruits. The publishers, Text
House, Inc, Coral Gables, are
quite right in saying: "We be-
lieve this book can be an effective
instrument. in awakening + F4ori-
dians to the fact that the tropical
fruits -. are among the neglect
ed assets of Florida-that they
could be outstanding tourist at
fractions here, as they are else
where in the tropics and subtrop-
eff more widely grown and pub
licized."
Written in simple, readable
language, the description of the
fruit and their trees also extend
to their preparation for eating,
either fresh, cooked, canned or in
many other ways. Undoubtedly,
many Key Westers-even life
time Conchs-will find facts here
regarding tropical fruits which
they never knew before.
The Mortons describe not only
the better known fruits-banana
orange, lemon, lime, avocado, pa
paya and pineapple, but many of
the lesser-known ones such as
Nancy, mamoncillo, guava, star
apple, rose apple and mango. The
sugar apple, so popular here but
unknown in most of the rest Of
the country, is temptingly des-
cribed.