flursers trout Slips, 311 



g. Pruning. As soon as the young plant begins to send forth 

 shoots, that is, about six months after planting, all shoots are to be 

 cut off with the exception of one, care being taken that this be the most 

 robust. In no case should the young plants be pruned in any other 

 manner. 



h. Time for Transplanting. In Soconusco the nursery is long in 

 attaining the growth necessary for transplanting from eighteen months 

 to two years. In Ceylon transplanting takes place a year after plant- 

 ing. Perhaps this difference is because the young trees are transplanted 

 there much younger than here. 



In Soconusco and Guatemala, transplantation does not take place 

 until the plants are of from three to four crosses, as they say here, that 

 is, until they have six or eight branches, which, growing in opposite 

 directions, take the form of a cross. 



E. Nursery Formed from Young Plants. In forming this nursery 

 the same rules are to be observed as those given for the nursery formed 

 from seeds, with the modifications to be indicated farther on. 



Planting is done in Soconusco in the early part of May, that is, 

 when the rainy season has well set in, the planter being always guided 

 by the rains in this operation. 



The holes for the plants are to be made a quarter of a yard apart, 

 with a pointed stick, half an inch in thickness. Four inches from the 

 point of this stick, a second and thinner stick, half a yard in length, is 

 to be fastened crosswise. This rude implement has two objects: i. 

 That the holes may not be made too deep, for the tender roots of the 

 plant would perish if they remained in a vacuum. 2. That, the point 

 of the first being in the centre of the second stick, the two ends of the 

 latter may mark off the distance of one quarter yard on either side of 

 the first, a hole being thus made and the places marked for two other 

 holes by the same operation. 



To form the nursery from young plants the seed-plot is absolutely 

 necessary, unless there should happen to be some neglected plantation 

 in the neighborhood which might furnish those required. When the 

 fruits are not all picked from the trees those that fall to the ground 

 sprout, and, if the plantation is not weeded, become in due time trees 

 which may be transplanted to the nursery. It is better, however, to 

 make a seed-plot, as the plants grow better and with greater luxuriance 

 in it than in the shade of the trees. 



F. Nursery Formed from Slips. In some localities that I have 

 visited, the nurseries instead of being formed from seeds of very young 

 plants, are formed from trees a year old or more, which generally have 

 a slender trunk and little foliage; the trunk is cut off to about eight 

 inches above the root; the main root and the lateral roots are also 

 pruned ; at the end of a year this plant will have put forth shoots, will 



