1919.] 



THE AVOCADO IN TRINIDAD d- TOBAGO. 



121 



lVi 



.6 

 5 



4 

 3 

 Z 



I 



Fig. o. — Pollock Avocado, on the left. 

 TitAPP xVvocADO, Oil the right. 



PROPAGATION OF SELECTED KINDS. 



To ensure the propagation of plants true to the selected tyfje, the 

 Department of Agriculture relies on budding which has been practised 

 in the nursery at St. Clair Experiment Station for the last four years. 

 The successful budding of the avocado in the West Indies was reported 

 in Jamaica in the Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture 

 for 1903-04, and by Mr. J. Jones at the Dominica Botanic Station 

 in 1912. Difficulty was experienced at Dominicx in budding plants in 

 bamboo pots, and the raising of the stocks in nursery beds was 

 recommended. Locally my attention was directed to the possibilities 

 of budding the avocxdo by s nne results obtained hy Mr. Bailey on old 

 trees at Dr. Senior's Estate at Four Roads, Diego Martin. The work at 

 St. Clair has been actively taken up by Mr. E. O. Williams who finds 

 that budding of plants in bamboo pots is quite successful, provided 

 young stocks are used. A desoript'on, bv Mr. Williams, of the method -i 

 employed follows (pages 125-8). I need not say more here excepting 

 that local experience has proved that it is possible both to bud young 

 plants, and to bud an old tree from a selected type and so convert a 

 plant from a poor to a good kind. 



CULTIVATION. 



The Avocado needs no very special care in cultivati )n ; at the same 

 time it thrives locally much better in some districts and situations than 

 in others. On the poor soil of parts of the Northern range in Trinidad 

 it does exceedingly well and vigorous plants may be seen on the hillsides 

 at the back of Port-of-Spain, and in the adjacent valleys of St. Ann's and 



