FRUITS OF THE FUTURE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 120, 6 May 1912, Page 2

FRUITS OF THE FUTURE.

THE AVACADO OF MEXICO

When the apple -orchards have fallen before the attacks of moths, and all the potatoes in the world are dispatched by blight, if ever such deplorable things happen, there wul still remain new fruits to tuke the place of any- lost vegetable or dessert. And when, a few ceutuiies hence, nations are facing the problem of supporting four times as many million people on the same amount of land, then, says an American horticulturist, they will settle it quite easily by deciding, “Let us all grow avocados.” An acre of land that can only nourish, say, one quarter of a ton of beef, or at the most, two tons of wheat, com or rice, will produce, perhaps, twenty tone of avocados. “A single fruit of this tree will make a meal for a man.” “21s nourishing as beefsteak and as delicate in flavour as any orchard product-” These are the compliments now paid to the avocado of Alexieo, commonly known as the alligator pear, which is eventually to form a staple and cheap foot product in the American home. An experimental station in California is already maintaining an expert in Mexico, whose duty it is io find the choicest and hardiest rees from which to secure the bud «ood that will, supply avocado orchards for countless acres and ages in the Southern' and South-western States. An agreeable feature in its character is that different trees are quite ready to bear fruit in different seasons, and by a little judicious arrangement of specimens, the orchard may have a crop for each month in the year. After a solid meal of avocado, flavoured to taste with salt, pepper, ami lemon juice, future Americans will be protided with some pleasant trifling dessert. The cherimoya, or custard apple, is to become a familiar luxury, "‘thoroughly cooled before serving, opened at the top, and eaten with a spoon” : and the white sapote, delicious and peach-like, is another Alexican importation which promises to bear generously in the Southern States. Or, better still, the family happilysupported for life on tiie product ot half a dozen avocado trees, as the “Technical World ’ confidently declares possible, may be in a position to take a second course of pineapple guava. This, too, is attracting the attention of those concerned in semitropical fruits, and is expected to become acclimatised and widely popular. Its foliage is ornamental, its scent is pleasing, and its taste is not only agreeable, but various. "He who drinks beer thinks beer.'’ >ut, he who eats the pineapple guava thinks of pineapple, raspberries, and bananas all at once.