FRUITS OF THE FUTURE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue XLVII, 7 May 1912, Page 8

FRUITS OF THE FUTURE.

When the apple orchards have fallen before the attacks of n"oths, and all the potatoes of the world are dispatched by blight, if ever such deplorable things happen, there will still remain lieAfruits to take the place of any lost vegetable or dessert. And when', a few centuries 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, corn, or rice, will produce, perhaps, twenty tons of avocados. "A single fruit of this tree will make a meal for a man." "As nourishing as beefsteak, and as delicate in flavour as any orchard product." These are the compliments now paid to the avocado of Mexico, commonly known as the alligator pear, which is eventually to form a staple and cheap food product in the Arcerican home. An experimental station in California is already maintaining an expert in Mexico, whose duty it is to find the choicest and hardiest trees from which to secure the bud wood that will supply avocado orchards for countless acres and ages fn 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 vear. After a solid meal of avocado, flavoured to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon-juice, future Americans will be provided 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 Mexican importation which promises to bear generously in the Southern States. Or, better still, the family happily supported for life on the product of 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 with the future of serri-tropical 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." But he who eats the pineapple guava thi-nks of pineapples, raspberries, and bananas, all . at once.