396 Timehri. 
Not only is the growth under these circumstances stunted, but the 
habit assumed is quite different from that of the lime. Having selected 
seeds from trees growing on soils of a fairly heavy nature which are good 
bearers and in sound health, yielding juicy thin- rinded fruit, the next ‘step 
is to prepare suitable nursery seed- beds. 
Before the trees have obtained a sufficient size and are ready for the 
field, careful work will be necessary for the preparation of good, high 
mounds for their reception. 
To do this one must dig holes about two feet in depth arid three feet 
in diameter, shghtly breaking the edges and bottom with the fork. From 
the bottom of the hole a str: aight adel about eighteen inches in width 
and two feet deep should be dug sloping to the ordinary small drain. If 
this is not done the holes will act as ‘“ water-traps” when the heavy 
rainy season comes. Such holes must be left open to wind and sun for a 
considerable period. They should then be filled in with the soil already 
taken out, on which the action of the sun will have now had a_)beneficial 
effect, together with what surface soil there may be available. 
It is presuined, of course, that the ordinary saddle-backed three 
“yod” beds are utilised. Unless care is exercised in seeing that the 
soil is well chipped and worked with the shovel, there will be a con- 
siderable sinking of the edges around the holes, in which case, of course, 
water will collect around the holes during the rainy season, with 
disastrous results to the plants. 
Then it is important that the young plants are put out in the fields * 
at the very beginning of the rainy season, otherwise they will be 
subjected to deluges of rain before they have made much root action, 
with results obviously disappointing to the planter. 
When one has decided on actual planting operations there is still 
trouble ahead. It is a fact heyond dispute that in this colony where 
crops are generally hardy, and experience has been mostly in connection 
with planting cane-tops, the most extreme rough-and-ready methods 
prevail on the part of the labourer. Such things as root-hairs are 
unknown, so that unless a special gang has been trained to carry out the 
necessary transplanting from the nursery beds, one will be horrified at 
the manner at which such work is attempted. After having dug up the 
plant with a good mound of mother earth, a hole has to be dug in the 
mound itself, the plant placed in it with the roots conveniently spread ; the 
earth having been firmly put round it with a trowel or some such 
implement, the operator should then stand on the mound with the tree 
between his legs, and carefully and lightly held by the hands. <A sharp, 
sudden, downward, heel-and-toe motion, must then be given. He must 
then step off the mound and again step on it, this time with his heels 
and toes in the opposite direction, and again go through the same 
performance. It is a mistake to dance around the tree and “ bake” the 
soil around the stem, There should then be a light moulding with the 
