The mango, by P.J. Wester ...

21

of Luzon, the Visayas and the north coast of Mindanao. Since
then the author has also had the opportunity to study the mango
grown in the Sulu Archipelago and the territory in Mindanao
settled by the Moros. The mango trees grown in this region,
in Lanao, Cotabato, Davao, Zamboanga, and Sulu, are quite
different in habit and the fruit is likewise so distinct from those
in the north of the Archipelago as to indicate very plainly a
different origin. The Sulus have, in fact, a tradition that a
certain rajah, one Ahmat Ansang, sailed to the country of the
Malays and brought back seeds of the "Mampalam, Mangifera
indica, Wannih, Mangifera odorata, Baonoh, Mangifera caesia
and the Marrang, Artocarpus odoratissima."
In the Dutch East Indies some mango forms are known under
the name Dodol, very evidently identical with the Dudul
mango in Mindanao. In this connection it is also interesting
to note that Salikaya is the Moro name for Annona reticulata,
the same as given for this species by Rumphius from Amboina.
On the other hand one of the names of M. caesia in Java is Wani.
While apparently a variant of this name, Wannih, Juani or
Huani is applied to M. odorata in Sulu and Mindanao.
Since the first Mohammedan missionary arrived in Sulu, about
1380 A. D., after which date there was more or less frequent
intercourse between the Malay people in the west and southwest of the Philippines and the Mohammedan region of the
Philippine Archipelago, it seems probable that the introduction
of the mango into Sulu and Mohammedan Mindanao antedates
its arrival in Luzon and the Visayas-possibly by 200 years,
or even more.
In 1911 a large collection of grafted mangos were imported
from India and set out at the Lamao Experiment Station.
Among these the following varieties have become well established, but have not yet fruited.
Naspati, Gopalbogh, Tamancha, Krishnabogh, Sanduria,
Chickna, Bombay green, Alfonso, Malda, Kachamitha, Davy's
favorite, Langra, Kutna, Salibunda, Sufaida, Kakaria, Surkha
and Najibabadi.
Cavite, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Cebu,
Bohol and Iloilo lead in the production of mangos in the
Philippines.
Notwithstanding the great natural advantages to the fruit
culturist, at present the mango industry in the Philippines can
scarcely even be said to be in its infancy. The trees nearly
always are planted on the edges of the rice fields and where