148 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



May 10, 1913. 



FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 



THE FLOWERING OF THE MANGO. 



A note in the Ai/ricultural Journal of India, for 

 January 1913, gives attention to periodicity in the flowering 

 of different vaiieties of mango in that country It is 

 pointed out first that, although most mango trees will flower 

 more or less svery year, there is no foundation for saying that 

 any particular variety possesses a fixed character of normally 

 flowering every year and producing heavy yields of fruit. 

 The fixation of a definite character of this nature would 

 appear to solve what is at present a great drawback to mango 

 cultivation in India. It is pointed out that the real test 

 would be to find out if such a character were hereditary or 

 not In the opinion of the writer of the article referred to — 

 the Superintendent of the Botanical Gardens at Saharanpur 

 — the character is not hereditary, being subject rather 

 to variation through environment than to the transmission 

 of any definite factor. Of nearly sixty varieties observed 

 in 1911, the ditt'erence between the earliest and the last 

 to begin to flower was only twenty-five days. Of the 

 ■first six to flower earliest, the average duration of flower- 

 ing was thirty day.s; whereas in the case of the six 

 varieties to flower latest, the average was only twelve days. 



The inferred cause is the increase in temperature for the 

 period of the year — February 20 to March 20— on which 

 dates the earliest and latest varieties flowered respectively. 

 Other observations tended to support the contention that 

 alternation in bearing is primarily due to over production, 

 with a consequent exhaustion, followed by recoupment. 

 Incidentally the important fact is jointed out that rain at 

 the time of heavy flowering spoils pollination. This is one 

 cause which may explain the frequent inability of flowers to 

 set fruit in the West Indies. 



TREATMENT OF STORM-DAMAGED 

 CACAO TREES. 



Some rather useful hints on the above subject have 

 appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of tlu Jamaica 

 Agricultural Hociety (.January 1913), and the following 

 information, derived from this source, forms a fitting .sequel 

 to a previous note in the above journal, on the damage to 



annual crops by hurricanes, which was abstracted in the 

 A'jricnltural Xewi (Vol. .\I1, p. 8S). 



In cases where damage has be^n caused to branches of 

 cacao trees by the falling of heavy obstacles on them, the 

 wounds should be smoothed over with a sharp knife and 

 then covered with tar to prevent water soaking in. The 

 smoothing enables the tree to repair the broken part more 

 readily. In other cases where young cacao trees, not in 

 bearing, have been blown over, a stake should be driven in 

 the ground and the tree carefully tied to this support. If 

 a gap has been made in the soil around the base of the tree 

 it should be filled in with loose earth, but no attempt should 

 be made to mould up. 



Large cacao trees which have been blown down are 

 not quite so easily treated. The best procedure appears to 

 be as follows. A short stout stake with an open crutch at 

 the top is obtained, and driven in the ground at a convenient 

 distance along the line of the prostrate trunk. The tree 

 is then gently raised so that the stem rests in tlie crutch, 

 whilst the branches and leaves are for the most part 

 lifted off the ground. Under this arrangement the tree will 

 either continue giving, or soon begin producing fruit. In this 

 position, however, the plant is unsightly and cumbrous, 

 consequently a young shoot or 'gormondizer' should be 

 encouraged to grow as near as possible to the base of the 

 trunk. All other shoots should be pruned off as soon as 

 they appear. In about eighteen months this new stem will 

 begin to bear fruit, and then the old tree can be conveniently 

 and profitably cut away. 



Notice of Judgment No. 2,112 (United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture) concerns an interesting case of adulter- 

 ation and misbranding of extract of nutmeg. The product 

 was labelled: I'ure Triple Strength Extract Nutmeg. 

 Analysis of a sample by the Bureau of Chemistry showed 

 the following results: alcohol, 45 7 per cent.; solids, 

 33 per cent.; oil of nutmeg 01 6 per cent. The mis- 

 branding was alleged for the reason that the label was false 

 and misleading in that the product was not of standard 

 strength, being in fact a highly dilute extract containing 

 a large quantity of alcohol. 



