141 



of primaries destroyed as soon as the sucker is big enough to 

 warrant this operation. 



In some cases, although not often, it will be necessary to al- 

 low a second sucker, in order to get the necessary height of the 

 crown above the ground. Trees which branch too low never 

 seem to be quite as vigorous as those which branch as near to the 

 ideal height as possible. It is difficult to keep the air circulat- 

 ing through trees which have branched too low, and it is much 

 more inconvenient to work among such trees. The greatest care 

 is necessary in the carrying out of the details on pruning. It is 

 appalling to see pruning in many places. Provide a good 

 sharp knife, it cannot be too sharp ; then if the pruner does not 

 make a good clean cut close into the old branch, so that there is 

 no snag sticking out to rot and decay the parent branch, it is time 

 to talk to him, but do not expect a man to do scientific pruning 

 with a piece of iron hoop from Germany or Birmingham, shaped 

 up to look like a knife. 



The removal of big branches, which should only be necessary 

 in cases of accident to big trees, should be done with a very 

 sharp saw, or cutlass, the wounds always being pared smooth with 

 a good sharp knife, and smeared over with a composition consist- 

 ing of half Stockholm tar and half grease, melted together and 

 applied warm. Small cuts made, in removing branches of, say 

 an inch in diameter, should be treated with paint instead of tar, 

 or still better with knotting varnish ; the latter is much to be pre- 

 ferred for all kinds of wounds, the only objection being the 

 expense. 



In the case of old cocoa trees being damaged, allow them to 

 send up a young sucker, and treat this in the same way as recom- 

 mended for pruning young plants, allowing the old tree to go on 

 bearing, until such time as the young sucker has formed a new 

 tree. It is wonderful how soon they will do this on good 

 land. Fifteen months after the hurricane of 1903 I saw suckers 

 at Spring Valley in Hanover, which had grown to the height of 

 10 feet and were actually bearing, while the old portion of the 

 tree, practically lying on the ground, was also bearing. Old 

 trees which have decaying wood in them as a result of accident 

 or bad pruning, should have this carefully removed, being care- 

 ful to cut right back into the healthy portions of the tree, and 

 then paint the wounds over as previously recommended. Care 

 should be taken to remove all prunings from Cocoa walks, and 

 burn them, as these are fruitful sources for the propagation of 

 disease. 



A BOTANICAL EXPEDITION TO JAMAICA.°t 



By DUNCAN S. JOHNSON, Ph. D., Professor of Biology, Johns 



Hopkins University, Baltimore. 

 The writer, accompanied by Messrs. W. D. Hoyt and I.F. Lewis, 



*From The Johns Hopkins University Circular, No. 3, pp. 21-25. 

 t The expedition was aided by a grant from the Bache Fund. 



