CHAPTER XIV. 



Transport of Seed and Living Plants. 



ITCH trouble is experienced by intending planters 

 in sending Cacao seed to a distance. The 

 author has however had considerable experience 

 in forwarding to Ceylon, West Africa, Nicara- 

 gua, Europe and America. It has been, 

 found best where quantities are required, to sow 

 the seed in light earth in Wardian cases. In 

 1893, I personally conveyed 25,000 plants of Trinidad Cacao to 

 ^Nicaragua, and as successfully brought a smaller number of 

 ^Nicaragua Cacao to Trinidad. Cases sent to the West Coast of 

 Africa have arrived in splendid condition when sown in Wardian 

 case?, and established plants were safely sent to Ceylon in the 

 same class of package. When seed is to be sent to places 

 requiring a journey of not more than 12 or 14 days, they may 

 be safely sent in the pods. The pods should be carefully picked, 

 and packed without bruising into crates, with clean dry shavings, 

 wrapping each pod first in stout paper. A variety of methods 

 are devised for sending seeds, but the above described is the 

 one I have found most effective. Pods may be packed however 

 in dry sawdust with considerable success. The most essential 

 point needed to ensure successful transit, is to send them only 

 in warm weather or at such times when the temperature will 

 not fall much below 60 Fah. If plants or seeds meet with cold 

 weather even for an hour, such as sometimes occurs on Wharves 

 and Railway Stations, when sending to Europe, it is almost 

 sure to be fatal to both plants and seeds. Small quantities of 

 seed may be sent by post, if care is taken to remove the pulp 

 from them and put them with dry clay, and then pack in moist 

 Coco-nut refuse, in a tin (not wooden) case. When pods are 

 sent they should be collected not more than three days previous 

 to despatch, and kept on a dry floor or shelf previous to packing. 

 In planting seeds we are told by some, that they must be put 

 into the soil in a certain position to do well. Some say the- 

 radicle should point upwards, and others that it should stand 

 downwards, and some plant their seed laid flat in the soil. In, 

 ^Nicaragua the seed coat and all the pulp clean down to the 



