18 THE MANGO IN" PORTO RICO. 



squeezed in, but make it a nice fit. Now bind it with the candle cotton, with just 

 sufficient pressure to make it touch its new parent. Avoid, if possible, binding imme- 

 diately over the buds. The old notion that all air must be excluded to effect a union 

 is a delusion as far as grafting the mango is concerned. There is no necessity for clay, 

 grafting wax, or any other nasty stuff to insure agood union, but just the candle cotton. 

 Now it may be that a section of bark has been prepared for transplanting which is 

 much thicker than the piece taken out. Well, never mind; tie it on, and it will grow, 

 although it is not a comfortable fit. Should the weather be hot and dry when the 

 grafting is l^eing done the top may be left on the tree for shade, but it must be 

 thoroughly ring-barked 6 or 8 inches above the graft. In two or three weeks cut the 

 top off at the spot where it was ring-barked, and if the buds on the graft have started 

 into growth remove the binding. 



When the young shoots which have sprung from the grafts have ripened, the old 

 wood projecting beyond the graft should be sawn off close to the base of the new 

 growth. As the new wood continues to grow it will cover up the entire end where it 

 was sawn off, making very neat work of it. In the mango a term " ripened" shoot 

 applies when the leaves and bark of the latter have taken their full green color 

 (chlorophyll), or when the shoot has rested and is ready to continue its growth. 



In a matured growth, the green coloring mr.tter has been succeeded by a brown 

 color wliich varies considerably with age. 



Accompiinying the above article were photographs showing: (1) 

 A tree with its entire top cut off and fourteen different varieties of 

 mango grafted on it, all of which were growing; in less than two 

 months from the time of grafting the new gi'owth in some cases meas- 

 ured 7 inches. (2) A grafted mango tree where the grafts had made 

 a growth of 3 feet 6 inches in twelve months, with no cultivation. Mr. 

 Knight adds that experiments have proven beyond a doubt that "sec- 

 tions of the mango tree will keep good for grafting purposes from 

 three to six months' time according to variety and the constitution of 

 the tree from which they are obtained." Such mature bark Avith its 

 dormant buds would probabl}' be much less subject to injur}- and decay 

 during the vicissitudes of the voyage to the West Indies than would 

 the tender shoots usually employed as cuttings, and as no such time as 

 the above is necessary for the journey from India to the West Indies, 

 it would seem that the introduction of the best varieties into Porto 

 Rico might now be a comparatively simple matter. 



Mr. G. W. Oliver," of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 has recently reported excellent results with a uiethod called bv the 

 preferable name '' patch ])udding," similar to that described by Mr. 

 Knight, but originated independentl3^ Mr. Oliver's directions are 

 as follows: 



The method I wish to call attention to must be performed under certain conditions, 

 the first and most important of which is that the stock must be in active growth. 

 The best time is when the new leaves are not far enough developed to show the 

 bright green color. The bark is then most easily removed. Choose the thick part 

 of the stem only a few inches above the surface of the ground; cut out a rectangular 



a " The Propagation of the Mango," in The Florists' Exchange, Xew York, Apr. 

 19, 1902, p. 461. 



