122 [ THE CAROB TREE 



to September. It is preferable to bud the young tree 

 when it has established itself at home, and the stem 

 has reached the thickness of 2 or 3 c. m., but the 

 seedlings are often budded with good results when 

 they are still in pots, with a stem not thicker than 

 a lead pencil. 



The beans or pods ripen in August and are plucked 

 when they turn to a chocolate colour, about mid- 

 August. The use of a rod or reed to strike down 

 the beans may result in injury to the young blossoms 

 which at harvest time are already visible. Harvesting 

 should not be delayed much longer beyond the end of 

 that month in order to avoid the possible wet weather 

 and dews of September which will affect adversely the 

 keeping quality of the pods. These should be then 

 exposed to the sun for a few days, turned over now 

 and then and thoroughly dried before storage. 



There are several local varieties of carobs which 

 are remarkable for their productiveness, beyond which 

 however they have little to recommend them. The 

 "Gidri" so called on account of the very gnarled 

 appearance of the stein and branches produces long 

 and thick pods of a dark chocolate colour. They are 

 of poor keeping quality, and are mostly fed soon after 

 harvest. The "Afimar" yields light chocolate or rusty- 

 coloured pods, which keep much better, but are often 

 too thin and leathery. The "Ghasli" has long, narrow 

 and moderately thick pods, of a dark chocolate colour 

 and very sugary, which keep better than the "gidri" 

 but the tree is not very productive, or rather the pods 

 are more easily injured and destroyed, when young, 

 by bad weather in winter, and by various cryptogamic 

 pests. 



Of the various foreign sorts now cultivated, the 

 best is the Cyprus carob, which is fairly productive, 

 the pods are very long and thick, very sugary and 



