YIELDS AND RESULTS 17 



CHAPTER III. 



Yields and Results 



AGE OF COMING INTO BEARING. The time the 

 trees take to reach the productive stage depends 

 on many circumstances : the health of the seedling, 

 the care bestowed on it, the method of planting, 

 the soil, the seasons, and the skill with which 

 the plant is attended to, are all factors which affect 

 the rapidity of growth. Most of these factors are 

 under the complete control of the planter, and it 

 behoves him to see that the plants have every 

 opportunity of developing rapidly. With all the 

 crops we have been considering the productive 

 stage is determined by condition of growth rather 

 than by age ; in other words, when the trees reach 

 a certain size they become productive, irrespective 

 of the time they have taken to reach that size. Bad 

 seasons by which is generally meant in the 

 tropics, dry seasons are, of course, evils beyond 

 man's power to avert, but even here much can be 



(D 243) C 



