•8 14 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



MnirlicMiri, elms, maples, ash, &c., or of small Ught seeds 

 that escape from the ripe fruit still hanging on the tree, 

 e. ij. deodar, silver fir, bii'ch, Hehi-dtem swleteiiwUks, Andro- 

 meda, &c. The seed collector must climh up mto the crown 

 of the tree, with or without the help of a ladder, just 

 as he can manage, and with a sack slung over his 

 shoulder. What he cannot reach dii'ectly with Ids hand, he 

 must draw to witliiu arm's length of ImnseU' by means 

 of a hook attached to the end of a light but sti-ong 

 sapling or bamboo of sufficient length. Branches and 

 branchlets break off less easily when di'awn upwards than 

 if puUed downwards; hence it is always advisable for 

 the collector to chmb up to the highest point he can 

 attam and begin by plucking off the fruit hanging at the 

 summit of the tree. The fruit of many species is more or 

 less articulated to the twig which bears them, and is thus 

 easily gathered; but that of some species can only be pluck- 

 ed by twistmg or otherwise forcibly breaking off the twig. 

 For the latter class of fruit the use of a cutting implement, 

 suh cas a pruning knife is to be recommended. 



(ii.) Hand pluckino off felled tbees. — Trees that 

 are to be cut for export in the ordinary course of work 

 often yield a considerable supply of good seed. They 

 should be felled immediately the fruit is ripe. A prun- 

 ing hook often facilitates very materially the collection of 

 fruit. Tins is the only method appUcable to the various 

 kinds of bamboos. , , . - „ 



(iii.) GATHEEiNa off the oeototd. — The seeds that fall 

 first are generally barren or worm-eaten ; they should 

 invariably lie rejected. To this end the dead leaves and 

 early fallen fruit or seed should be swept away from 

 under the selected trees. This method of collection is 

 very economical, and is pecuharly suited to large heavy 

 fruit which falls more or less perpendicularly and which 

 does not break up and allow the included seed or seeds 

 to diperse, e. </. Qxei-ciis incana, the sandalwood tree, &c., 

 sal, Tmniii(ili!i Chibida and bderiea, &c. To help the fall 

 of the seed or fruit, the branches of the trees may be 

 shaken. 



(iv.) Bef.akino off the feuit foeoibly feom stand- 

 INO TEEES.— Wlien trees marked to fall within a year or 

 so are chosen as the seed-bearers, it may be found in- 

 convenient or impossible to fell the trees as soon as 

 the fruit ripens. On account of tlie nature and small 

 'size of the fruit and seed, the Tlurd Method may also 

 be inapplicable, while the Fii-st would be unnecessarily 

 expensive, since there is no reason for sparing the fruit- 

 bearing branchlets and twigs of such trees. Tlie fruit 

 may then be broken off singly or in bunches with the 

 aid of a strong hook forming a sharp angle of about 

 30- fii-mly attached to one end of a long sapling or 

 bamboo. " The inside edge of the hook should be sliarp 

 and serrated and sUghtly curved inwards. The liook should 

 be passed over the fruit-bearing branchlet or twig at 

 the point at which it is to be broken oif, and jerked 

 downwards; or, if that does not suffice, it should be 

 twisted round once or twice, by which means the branchlet 

 or twig, as the case may be, wiU be firmly caught iu 

 it and a single jerk will then suffice to cut the former 

 through. Wliere small wood has no value, and there 

 is no objection to thinning out the crowns of the trees 

 branchlets of a certain thickness may be cut off with a 

 bill hook, and the fruit then hand plucked from them. 

 Some trees produce bunches of fruit, the common stalk 

 ,of which di-ies up at maturity and easily disarticulates 

 from the rest of the branchlet. The panicled fructific- 

 ation of teak is a good instance in point. The present 

 method may be employed with such trees, both iudepen- 

 idently and also to supplement the Third Method, when 

 all the fruit, although they ripen more or less simultane- 

 ously, do not fall together. 



TBEArMKNT AFTER COLLECTION. — The fruit of many trees 

 require to undergo some previous manipulation before the 

 seed is in a fit condition to be sown or stored up. Either 

 (a) the seed is enclosed in a fleshy pulp, e. g. iJilUiiia, 

 Schleicheratrijuga, Artocnrpv.s, Gmdinu arbvren, Diospi/ros, 

 '&e. ; or (b) it is covered with a thick tough fibrous rind, 

 e.g. cocoanut, &c. ; or (c) it is included in a capsule or 

 pod, or between scales, e.g. Lngeftnemia, Schrebera,Mwh- 

 eliu, khair, flimlioickia, babul, Cunifcrir, &c., or (d) it is 

 surrounded or armed with fohaceous or comaceous append- 

 ,ages. which interfere with its uniform ditribution in sounding 

 'as well uselessly ijicrease its bulk and weight, e.g. Teak, 

 'fiOTue Terminalias, fterocarjmes Marsupiviii, elms, maples, 



pines, firs, poplars, willows, &c. ; or (e) it is so full of 

 moisture that it cannot be stored up at once without heat- 

 ing and fermenting, cr/. pines and firs, Amgesssus, Quercus 

 incana, &c. ; or (f ), although as ripe as it can ever become on 

 the parent trees, it would germinate badly or after much 

 delay if sown as soon as coUeeted, e.g., teak, Termmalia 

 tomentosa and Aijuna, Pterocarptis Marsupium, babul, ash, 

 &c. 



(a). Seeds enclosed in a fleshy pulp. — In many cases 

 the pulp may be got rid of by allowing it to rot in heaps, 

 and then washing it off in large vats with abundance of 

 of water, working the contents of the vats well with 

 strong rods bound together broom-fashion. Edible fruit, 

 such as that of Zizyphiis, Ifiospt/ro.<, Bnchanania, Scldeichera 

 &c., give no trouble ; people who Uve in or close to the 

 forest wdl bring in aU the seed required in retm-u merely 

 for the privilege of collecting the fruit with occasionally 

 a trifling money renuineratiou added. Some kinds of fruit 

 may also be given to goats and cattle, which eject the 

 seed when chewing the cud, e.g. Zizyplius, Tennbudia bel- 

 erica and Chebu/a, Fhyllanthits Emblicu, Gmelina arborea, 

 Fro^opis spicigera, &c. 



(b). Seeds covebed with a thick fibeods eind. — The 

 rind must be torn off with the aid of force and special 

 shears. 



(c). Seeds included in a capsule oe pod, oe between 

 scales. — The quickest method, when that is practicable, 

 is the application ot lieat, under the action of which the 

 valves of the capsules or pods and the scales of the cones 

 open out or disarticulate, and allow the enclosed seeds to 

 escape out. In many cases simple exposure to the sun 

 suffices ; in others, however, a higher and more sustained 

 temperature is required, and then special drying houses 

 are necessary, iu which the fruit to be treated is exposed 

 to the direct action of air heated by .steam pipes or over 

 an open fii-e, and kept at the required temperature with 

 the aid of thermometers. The coverings and scales are 

 separated from the seed by raking or riddling or win- 

 nowing, according to circumstances. But the appUcation 

 of heat does not suffice for, or even does not succeed 

 at all, with the fruit of many species, e. g. sissoo, Hard- 

 wickia, babul, khair, &c. In this case, if the seed is tough 

 enough thi-eshing in sacs or in the open an', or tread- 

 ing with bullocks on a well-beaten level floor in the 

 manner of the Indian agriculturist gives good resiUts. 

 Some of these seeds, however, chiefly of leguminous jjlants, 

 do not stand such rough treatment, viz., Hardwickia hinata, 

 sissoo, &c., and the only way to free them, as far as I 

 know, is to manipulate each fruit individually with the hand, 

 in case the separation of the seed from its covering is 

 deemed necessary. 



(d). Seeds with foliaceous oe comaceous appendaoes. — 

 The whole sale removal of these appendages, except one by one 

 withthe hand, is not always po.ssible without injury to the 

 germinative power of the seeds ; but whenever prac- 

 ticable, it should be effected. If the seed is hard or tough, 

 friction, more or less rough, suffices to detach these ap- 

 pendages. When this is the case, a very expeditious 

 method is to nearly, but non quite, fill large stout sacs 

 with the seed, and to thresh these or work them violently 

 backwards and forwards, according to the toughness of 

 the seed, until the appendages are detached or crushed, 

 when they can be easily separated by the ordinary pro- 

 cess of winnowing. Treading with cattle may sometimes 

 be found efficacious. Threshing is necessary for seeds of 

 Tevminalia toniento:ia and Aijuna, Fti'rocaipus JIarsupium, 

 &c. Ti-eading with cattle or friction in sacs will succeed 

 perfectly with teak, kc. With brittle or otherwise deli- 

 cate seeds the following process may often be employed 

 with the best result: — They should be spread out and 

 sprinkled over lightly with water from a pot with a fine 

 rose, and moistened thus, they should be collected into 

 large heaps. As soon as a gentle heat is felt on insert- 

 ing the hand into these heaps, they ought to be .spread 

 out to dry. A\Tien the seeds are again tlry, the append- 

 ages will be found to have disarticulated of themselves. 



(e). Seeds too moist to be stoeed up at once. — 

 The seeds of many species have to be plucked from the 

 parent tree before they are quite dry, in order to pre- 

 vent their being disseminated and scattered far and wide. 

 Other kinds of seed contain a great deal of moisture 

 even when they fall off naturally. Such seeds should be 



