ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC jii, 



two hundred and fifty acres of two-year-old trees .by. fire in the dry 

 season, said to have been started by sparks from a locomotive. 



After the burn is finished, the ground is open and spongy, and in j^s.t 

 the right condition for the reception of seed. If this seed, is. r put, ifl-Spj 

 as to catch the early rain, it gets a good start before the torrential rains 

 come, when the soil is pounded down hard. This is the reason that seecj 

 planting the second year is not apt. to prosper, and, why it ; is.,., better then 

 to transplant from a well equipped nursery. The earliest bloom of .the^ 

 Castillo a appears about the first of .March, : :the seed. ..ripening within 

 sixty days, and it is usually all gone thirty, fe^Atyer.;., -jThe^ seeds are 



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gathered, as^. a general thing, ., as soon;, &$ -r.ipe^ /and" it is ,-often a -race 

 between the planters and parrots to see which- will get the ^mos-t, as the 

 latter are very fond of them-. The -seed is. secured by, /knocking the cones 

 off the branches of the trees with, long poles.. , T.hese cones, are put in 

 water, and allowexi to stand over night, when the gluten-surrounding the 

 seed sjightly ferments. -The mass -is then placed in a sieve, and the pulp 

 is easily washed? away. - After a final washing; the floaters or unvitalized 

 seeds, are ski-mmed off, and the residue are dried on -mats in the 

 As the vitality of the Castillo^ seed- is very sligjit-, it is necessary v t;Q' : 



