them. The three pronged hand grubber is the best implement 

 for loosening the soil round plants and exactly suited to the 

 Native gardeners' fancy, they do not as a rule take kindly to 

 European implements, the spade they cannot use as they do not 

 wear shoes, and besides it is generally too much for their strength. 

 Watering pots with large moveable necks are very desirable for 

 watering large beds obviating the men trampling over the surface. 



GLOSSARY OF TERMS, ETC. 



ALBUMEN is a thick, glairy, tasteless, fluid, resembling the 

 white of an unboiled egg ; and is a substance deposited in the 

 cells of vegetables. It abounds in the papaw (Carica papaya) 

 tree; it also exists in the seeds of many plants, and in the fungi. 



BLANCHING OR ETIOLATION. The process of whitening plants, 

 by which we deprive them of much of their bitter quality. It 

 is performed in several ways either by earthing them up so as 

 to exclude the light and air, or by covering them over with boards, 

 which is a bad plan in this country ; or else by placing over the 

 plant earthenware pots, open above and below, and filling up the 

 space at the bottom with dry sand, but I by no means recom- 

 mend doing the latter, as it gets between the leaves, and is some- 

 times difficult to remove. A couple of half circular tiles, placed 

 round the plant, with the earth brought up around it, is the 

 method I generally pursue. Salad only requires that the leaves 

 should be brought together and tied with plantain leaf or other 

 substance, and if rain falls, the leaves must be occasionally 

 opened and the water shaken out, else they soon decay. 



BLIGHT, A common term for injuries received by the vegetable 

 kingdom when in a state of growth, which cannot always be refer- 

 red to any obvious or certain cause, and coming suddenly, is said 

 to give them the appearance of being blighted. Attacks of insects, 

 fogs, clammy weather, and frost, are said to be some of the causes. 



BUDDING should be performed in the morning or evening : 

 the natives give the preference to the last and first quarter of the 

 moon for the operation. The cuttings from which buds are taken 

 should be from healthy trees, and such as have borne fruit. The 



