840 



have not been nicked or 'taga* as they say in Tagalog. The 

 nicked or slashed trees after smoking will produce fruits 

 three months earlier than those that have not been nicked 

 or smoked. The object of the smoking is, according to the 

 natives, to cause the tree to produce flowers earlier and 

 to have the fruit ripen earlier. It also helps to dry the 

 flowers which have become wet from the dew and materially 

 helps to keep down the harmful insects and fungus. The 

 smoking is stopped when the fruit is the size of a marble. 

 Nicking is performed when the tree reaches the age of six 

 or seven years. The time selected is about the first part 

 of November, which is the dry period in the province of 

 Cavite. The tree is first nicked from the ground upward 

 as far on the trunk as it is possible to reach or to the 

 first branch. Care should be taken not to injure the cam- 

 bium layer to too great an extent. This nicking is done 

 by a sharp bolo. When I first saw the nicking and smoking 

 stunt used on mango trees, I was of the opinion that it 

 was more injurious than beneficial, but now after three 

 years of observation I can readily see that it is a won- 

 derful help to trees raised from seeds. They fruit and 

 fruit earlier than those not treated in the manner de- 

 scribed and I have never seen any bad results caused by 

 the nicking or smoking. This is saying a good deal as I 

 have seen mango trees in every large island of the Philip- 

 pines, treated in the manner described. There is another 

 matter, regarding manos, which I spoke to you about when 

 last in Washington: namely the method employed by the 

 natives for keeping mangos six months. It is as follows: 

 A kerosene tin which holds five gallons is used as the re- 

 ceptacle. An equal amount of second grade molasses and 

 sawdust is mixed or as much molasses as the sawdust will 

 absorb is used. The quantity of the above material used 

 depends upon the amount of mangos placed in the tin. It 

 is however, necessary to have the mangos completely im- 

 mersed. The tin is then made air tight by soldering. The 

 second grade molasses is cheap here, due to the large num- 

 ber of sugar mills, so the expense thus incurred is very 

 little. I have arranged to have one tin of the first man- 

 gos packed in this manner sent to you so that you may see 

 If the method is 0. K. " 



Philippines. Manila. Mr. Wm. S. Lyon writes, March 19, 

 1915. "A matter of two weeks ago I mailed you a small tin 

 of fresh seed of Chaetospermum but forwarded you no infor- 

 mation on same. Since reading Mr. Swingle's monograph on 

 'Citropsis', I am prompted to ask you whether or not he 

 has successfully worked any standard varieties of the 

 orange on Chaetospermum, and if any tests have yet been 

 made in growing them under arid conditions. I think, but 

 am not quite certain that I wrote to you that this species 

 occurs on well drained gravelly hillsides where seventy 



