15 
in no other way. Sometimes the seeds are collected promis- 
cuously, at other times the best pods from the best trees 
are selected and the seed taken from the center of such pods. 
While the last method is certainly much better than the 
former it is far from being perfect, which will readily he 
understood when we remember that pods from a tree sur- 
rounded by other trees do not contain seeds that are entirely 
the product of that tree. Pollen is brought from tree to 
tree and from flower to flower by the wind and by insects 
and therefore the. best looking pods from a Criollo or 
a Forastero tree may contain seeds that will produce 
Calabacillo trees and fruit. That is, of course provided that 
there are any Calabacillo trees in the neighborhood from 
which the pollen could come. But even if there are no 
such trees it is very difficult to secure pure seeds on any 
plantation because of the way in which cacao varieties are 
mixed These mixtures are not always undesirable, as a 
matter of fact the ideal cacao variety, if it is ever found, 
will come through crossing. It may not come through a 
natural cross but if men like Harrison or Bovell would 
devote as much time to cacao as they have to sugar cane 
they would unquestionably produce a variety with the vigor 
of the Calabacillo, the pod of the Forastero and the bean of 
the Criollo or Pentagona. That however, is scientific work 
which the average planter has neither the knowledge, the 
facilities nor the time to do, and his work is to find the 
best natural varieties and propagate from them in such a 
way that none of the desirable characters are lost. This 
can be done by budding, or inarching, which methods we 
herewith describe fully with the hope that they will be 
instructive to those who have not yet taken advantage of 
the teachings of the various agricultural departments. 
It is not probable that the majority of the plantations 
