222 



washed from the ridges. I do not think permanent shade is re- 

 quired as shade, but shelter from the wind is urgently required ; a 

 tree also which will deposit a large quantity of leaves on the land 

 would be a great help to the land. 



If an artificial manure can be applied about June which would 

 help to hurry up the bananas, and the same for the cocoa on the 

 poor spots about September, I think there is no question that the 

 majority of the trees would soon be in good condition. Pruning 

 will have to be looked after constantly — "little and often " is a 

 good maxim for the pruner at all times, and especially so after such 

 a calamity as these trees have passed through. Healthy trees 

 which are leaning badly, or which have been damaged by wind or 

 bananas, &c., falling on them, beyond the chance of their again 

 being made into good shaped trees, should each be allowed to send 

 up one good sucker, selecting the strongest one as near the ground 

 as possible, removing all the others and preventing fresh suckers 

 from growing by constant pruning. Cocoa plants which have not 

 fully recovered from the effects of the hurricane should on no 

 account be allowed to bear fruit ; the bearing of four or five pods 

 this year on an enfeebled tree will probably mean a loss of five 

 times that amount during the next two or three years. 



One or two general points which may look small, but are of vast 

 importance, were noticed by me. 



When roads or drains are made, the soil is often heaped round 

 the stems of the trees causing them to become soft and pappy, and 

 rendering them liable to attacks by the grubs of the Fiddler and 

 other bugs. In any case if soil is heaped up round the stems of 

 the cocoa trees for any length of time, the bark rots and the trees 

 get feeble, drop their leaves, cease to bear, and often die outright. 

 Even in weeding, labourers often heap up the soil round the stems 

 of the trees to their great detriment : the best plan to remedy this 

 would be to select a careful old woman with a piece of stick to go 

 round after weeding, and clear the stems of all the trees of soil. 

 A cutlass should not be used, although if the stems are exposed 

 to air and light, they soon recover from wounds inflicted by cutlass 

 or hoe ; if the wounds are covered up they are great sources of 

 danger, from grubs, fungoid pests, &c. 



Another point I observed was that young plants had often been 

 kept too long in the bamboo joints, the roots being twisted round 

 and round the bamboo joints. Plants such as these are not likely 

 to thrive. Another point people are not careful with, and that is 

 to see that the roots of the young plants when taken out of the 

 bamboo joints are properly wet. Before removing them for plant- 

 ing, the precaution should always be taken of soaking the bamboos 

 with the plant in, in a bucket or pan of water, for at least half an 

 hour, especially the plants procured from Hope Gardens, which 

 often get very dry on the journey from the gardens to the planta- 

 tions. 



With reference to the damage done by grubs at Halcot Farm, 

 the trees have not been troubled underground, but the limbs of 



