From the Manual Of Tropical And Subtropical Fruits
by Wilson Popenoe
The Mango
The Crop
In the tropics seedling mangos usually come into bearing four to
six years from the time of planting. More time than this may be
required in some instances. Certain races are more precocious than
others. In Florida, growth is less rapid than in the tropics and
fruiting is delayed in consequence.
Budded trees should fruit at
an earlier age than seedlings. As regards a given variety or race, they
usually do so; but grafted or budded trees of some varieties do not
fruit so early as seedlings of certain races. In Florida, dwarf kinds
such as D'Or and Julie sometimes fruit the second year after planting.
Haden has produced good crops four years from planting. Mulgoba should
fruit at four to six years of age. Malda and several other sorts have
been grown in Florida ten years or more without having fruited as yet.
At Saharanpur, India, A. C. Hartless has found that it commonly
requires four to nine years for inarched trees to come into bearing.
The
yield of many budded varieties is uncertain, while of many seedling
races it is uniformly heavy. Seedling trees in Cuba and other parts of
tropical America often carry as much fruit as the branches will
support. Budded mangos sometimes bear heavily one season and nothing
the next. The following table prepared by A. C. Hartless shows the
behavior of the orchard of grafted trees in the Botanical Garden at
Saharanpur, India, during a period of twenty-seven years. Numerous
varieties are included; and it is probable that some bore more
regularly than others; but the table takes account of the crop as a
whole:
Table III. Showing The Bearing Of Mango Trees
| Year | Character of Crop | Year | Character of Crop | Year | Character of Crop | | 1886 | Fair | 1895 | Extremely light | 1904 | Very heavy | | 1887 | Almost a failure | 1896 | Very light | 1905 | Light | | 1888 | Good | 1897 | Fair | 1906 | Good | | 1889 | Complete failure | 1898 | Excellent | 1907 | Very light | | 1890 | Light | 1899 | Fair | 1908 | Good | | 1891 | Poorest on record | 1900 | Beloow average | 1909 | Very poor | | 1892 | Heavy | 1901 | Very light | 1910 | Very poor | | 1893 | Heavy | 1902 | Fair | 1911 | Poor | | 1894 | Very light | 1903 | Very light | 1912 | Excelletn |
Records
from Lucknow, India, show that during a period of thirty years there
were nineteen in which the crop was poor, six in which it was fair, and
five in which it was heavy. At Nagpur during a period of nine years
there were six in which the crop was poor and three in which it was
good.
In Florida Mulgoba has, up to the present, produced a good crop about once in four years.
These
figures would be discouraging, were it not for the certainty that much
can be done to increase the likelihood of good crops by attending to
cultural details and by planting varieties known to be productive. The
extensive tests which have been made in Florida have brought to light a
number of choice sorts which combine excellent quality of fruit with a
degree of productiveness far above the average. Amini, for example, has
borne much more regularly than Mulgoba. In Porto Rico also it has done
remarkably well. Sandersha has produced a fair crop nearly every year.
Cambodiana has also given a good account of itself. Pairi has fruited
much more regularly than Mulgoba and is almost as good in quality. When
reasonably productive kinds are planted, and their cultural
requirements are thoroughly understood, such records as that of
Saharanpur should no longer be encountered.
The varieties now
grown in Florida supply the market with ripe fruit from July to
October. The main season is August and September. Cambodiana is one of
the earliest varieties. Sandersha is probably the latest. A few of its
fruits ripen as late as the first half of October. In India a kind
known as Baramassia (more likely a number of different mangos known
under the same name) is said to mature fruits throughout most of the
year, doing this by producing two or three light crops. It is probable,
however, that many statements regarding this variety are exaggerated,
for it seems to be known much better by reputation than by the personal
experience of those who describe it. A variety in northern India,
Bhaduria, ripens later than most others. In this part of India the
mango season extends from May to October.
The Indian method of
picking and ripening the mango, and the type of carrier employed in
shipping the fruit, are described by G. Marshall Woodrow. He says:
"The
mango is gathered as soon as the fruit comes away freely in the hand. .
. . When gathered too early the sap exudes freely, does not
agglutinate, and the fruit shrivels. The collection of the fruit should
be by hand as far as practicable; a bag-net with the mouth distended by
a circle of cane, and suspended by a strap from the shoulder, leaves
both hands free to gather. None must be allowed to fall to the ground;
all should be handled as gently as eggs because a slight bruise brings
on decay quickly. To bring down the higher fruit a bag-net 15 inches in
depth, the mouth distended by a circle of cane, traversed by and bound
to a light bamboo and having a piece of hoop iron bound across the
mouth of the bag at right angles to the bamboo forms an efficient
apparatus for the purpose; the hoop iron breaks the stalk, and the
fruit falls into the net and is gently lowered to the ready baskets. It
is then carried to the fruit room and arranged in single layers, with
soft dry grass above and below. The room must be well ventilated and
cool, yet not subject to decided changes of temperature; a moist
atmosphere hastens ripening and decay, coolness and fresh air retard
destructive changes.
"For transport, small baskets fit to
contain a dozen mangos should be provided, each with a lid and some hay
for packing at top and bottom. Each basket should be filled so as to
prevent motion of the fruit, choice specimens being separately wrapped
in soft paper. Twelve small baskets may be packed firmly into one large
one, and the load becomes sufficient for a man to carry when the basket
has been raised on to his head. By this means bruised and damaged fruit
is reduced to the lowest terms, and repacking for distribution is
avoided."
A. C. Hartless of Saharanpur says: "It is a common
practice here to ripen the fruit artificially. This is done to save the
expense of watching and protecting from predatory animals and birds.
When the fruits attain the desired size they are taken off and packed
in straw in closed boxes where they will ripen. The taste may in this
way differ slightly from those ripened on the tree, but it is not
uncommon for the fruits on the same tree to differ materially in
taste." C. Maries reports that the variety Mohur Thakur is ripened on
the tree at Darbhanga, small bamboo baskets being placed around the
fruits to keep flies and moths from eating them. When the basket falls
to the ground the fruit is ripe and ready for eating.
Some varieties will keep much longer after picking than others. William Burns,1
in his article on the Pairi mango, says that Alphonse can be kept two
months, if properly stored. Pairi, on the other hand, will only remain
in good condition for eight days. C. F. Kinman points out that the
Indian mangos have proved to be much better keepers in Porto Rico than
the native seedlings. The flavor and keeping quality of a fruit depend,
of course, largely on the degree of maturity at which it is picked. For
local use the fruit, with the exception of Sandersha, should be allowed
to color fully and to soften slightly on the tree, while for shipping
to market it must be picked before it is fully colored. Some varieties,
such as Amini, develop an objectionable flavor if left on the tree
until fully ripe.
1 Agricultural Journal of India, p. 27, 1911.
From
Florida the Indian varieties have been shipped successfully to northern
markets (Fig. 14). The fruit is picked when it has begun to acquire
color, but before it has softened in the slightest degree. It is then
wrapped in tissue-paper of the kind used in shipping citrus fruits, and
is packed in tomato baskets. Mangos of moderate size, such as Mulgoba,
will pack twelve to a basket. A small amount of excelsior is used above
and below them. Six of these baskets are placed in a crate for
shipment. Sometimes tomato baskets are dispensed with and the fruit is
packed in a crate with a partition in the center, using an abundance of
excelsior between each tier or layer.
Numerous storage tests
have been made at the Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station (Bull.
24). Mangos of different varieties were placed in (a) warm storage at
80 to 83º F., and (6) cold storage at 40 to 47º F. Some of the
results were as follows:
Fig. 14. Florida-grown mangos packed for shipment.
Amini.
- Fruits which were ready for eating when taken from the tree remained
in the warm room in good condition about four days. Fruits which were
well colored but had not softened on the tree began to decay in seven
to ten days. All of these fruits developed attractive color in storage.
In the cool room fruits which were ready for eating when removed from
the tree remained in good condition eleven to eighteen days. Those
which were mature when taken from the tree, but which had not commenced
to soften, were ready for eating twenty days after being put in
storage, and did not show signs of decay until six days later.
Cambodiana.
- Fruits which had fallen from the tree due to ripeness remained in the
warm room five days in good condition. Those which were picked when
soft on one side remained six to eight days without decaying
perceptibly. Those picked when about half colored remained in good
condition eight days only. Fruits ripened on the tree and placed in the
cool room kept only five or six days. Those which had colored on the
tree but had not begun to soften were ripe nineteen days after being
placed in the cool room, and remained in good condition until the
twenty-sixth day; they were not so good, however, as those ripened on
the tree.
Sandersha. - Fruits picked just before they began to
soften and placed in the warm room were ready for eating nine days
later, and remained in good condition three days. Fruits picked
similarly mature and placed in the cool room remained in good condition
for nearly five weeks, at the end of which time the flavor was better
than that of tree-ripened specimens.
"Fancy" mangos have been
shipped successfully from India to London, from Jamaica to London, and
from the French West Indies to Paris. When care is used in packing and
picking the fruit, the loss in transit is not heavy. The selection of
varieties having unusually good shipping qualities will do more than
anything else to encourage export trade of this sort. When the fruit
has only to be shipped from Florida to New York, keeping quality is not
so important. Some mangos which have been placed on the market have
made an unfavorable impression because they were improperly ripened.
More attention must be given to methods of ripening in the future, so
that the fruit may reach the consumer in full possession of its
delightful flavor and aroma.
The Mango
Botanical
Description
History and
Distribution
Composition
And Uses Of The Fruit
Climate And Soil
Cultivation
Propagation
The Mango Flower
And Its Pollination
The
Crop
Pests And
Diseases
Races and
Varieties
Back to
The Mango Page
|
|