255 



again, cut through the bark along the lines, and pick out the bark 

 with the point of the knife, taking care not to injure the delicate cam- 

 bium below. The piece of bark containing the bud may now be let 

 into the space made for it and firmly ti d. using two pieces of tape, 

 one ior the part below the actual bud (tying this first) and one for that 

 above, beginnintr with the middle of the piece of tape at the bud and 

 crossing it behind, finishing bottom and top. 



Care must be taken that the space mide for the reception of the bud 

 be large enough to allow of the bud, when pressed in, to move slightly 

 from side to side and up and down; indeed it is safest to err on the 

 side of having the space too large, rememb-ring that the union takes 

 place under the bud and not at the sides. 



If the " eye" of the bud is still green two weeks after budding, the 

 whole of the b anch above the bud mu>t be cut off carefully; avoidino- 

 bending, twisting, splitting or anything that would tend to disturb 

 the bud. 



The budding tape may be removed when the bud has grown out 

 .some SIX or eight inches. 



ON THE BUDDING OF COCOA. 



By T. J. Harris, Agricultural Instructor at Hope Exjjeriment 



Station. 



The Cocoa tree having had, in its native habitat, to battle with 

 other shrubs or trees for the possession of the light that is so ne- 

 cessary for proper nutrition, has developed ihe power of discardino- 

 whorl after whoil of primary branche- by producing successive 

 'gormandizers," each with its cro^n of primaries until the outer air 

 IS reached, bringing about an enormous lengihening of the stem 

 Under cultivation these gormandizers are not allowed to grow, the 

 tree being thereby kept down to a convenient height and all its 

 energies directed to the develoi'ment of the first whorl of primary 

 branches Now an observant cultivator will notice that these erect 

 gormandizers grow out from the main stem < nly ; though occasionallv 

 they will be found oi> the underside of the primaries near to the main 

 stem. In a sensft then we have two kinds of wood on a cocoa tree — 

 the "horizontal" produced by the primaries and the " vertical" growth.s 

 from the main stem ; the primaries produce only horizontal shoots and 

 the buds on the main stem never fail to grow into vertical shoots, 

 each of which latter is capable of carrying a whorl of primaries at the 

 top ; in fact if a tree is badly damaged the best thing that can be done 

 is to cut down the stem and confine future growth to one of these 

 vertical growths or gormandizers. 



Among cocoa growers it is well known that if t^.ey were able to 

 ship to the manufacturers goods of an even sample better prices ml t^ht 

 be expected ; now since the operation of budding is so simple, there is 

 no reason why each estate should not have all its trees of one approved 

 variety. Usually on a plantation there are one or two trees known "per- 

 sonally," we might say, to the overseer as being excellent croppers, bear- 

 ing regularly large numbers of good sized, thin shelled pods, each con- 



