22 PLANTING IN UGANDA 



The flowers will remain in the bud stage for a 

 considerable time if no rain occurs to cause them 

 to expand. The berries too will not ripen until 

 rain comes. It will be seen that in this way a crop 

 may be hastened or retarded to a very large extent 

 by the weather. In practice we find that this is so 

 to such an extent as to render it impossible to 

 predict in what month the crop will be harvested. 

 It frequently happens that on two estates situated 

 only a few miles from each other crops may vary in 

 time of ripening by as much as two months. 



YIELDS. Our records of yields of Para and 

 Cocoa are, it is to be regretted, rather frag- 

 mentary ; but this is only to be expected, consider- 

 ing the very short time the trees have been in 

 cultivation in the country. Records of yields will 

 now rapidly accumulate, but meanwhile it may be 

 useful to set down all we have at present obtained. 

 The records that have been secured make very 

 promising reading, and augur well for future 

 success. With Coffee we have well passed the 

 pioneer stage, and we can give reliable figures of 

 yields obtained in the field on a very considerable 

 scale. 



Para. The first tapping experiment in Uganda 



