ADVANTAGES OF BUDDING 39 



years respectively from the establishment of the plan- 

 tation. 



The young seedlings in the nursery require special care 

 in regard to watering, as dryness at the roots is liable 

 to check their development severely. In from six to eight 

 months the young plants vnll have grown to about a foot 

 high and may then be transferred to the plantation, 

 provided the weather be suitable. 



Budding. — Unless a cocoa flower is protected, cross- 

 fertilisation may occur, and even if protected the 

 characters of any particular variety of cocoa are not neces- 

 sarily " fixed " in the plants raised from beans collected 

 from it. The best and most certain means of perpetuat- 

 ing the desirable characters of the parent tree in its 

 progeny are by budding, grafting, or by propagating 

 young growths. With this object in view the writer 

 commenced in 1898 a series of experiments with cocoa 

 trees growing in the Botanic Gardens at Aburi, in the 

 Gold Coast. 



Only moderately satisfactory results were obtained by 

 budding and the forms of grafting which necessitated 

 the immediate removal of the scion from the parent tree. 

 Attempts to propagate by cuttings furnished negative 

 results, but grafting by approach proved most successful. 

 Fawcett considers that the budding of cocoa is in 

 every way more suitable than in-arching or grafting 

 by approach. In Jamaica, Harris and Cradwick 

 have both obtained excellent results by budding cocoa 

 trees. 



Budding or grafting affords an admirable means of 

 combining the commendatory qualities of the Criollo and 

 T. pentagona varieties with the high vitality and prolific 

 character of the Forastero types. 



It is almost invariably found that budding and grafting 

 induce early bearing and a low spreading habit to the 

 trees. The latter is a valuable attribute, for it facilitates 

 the collection of the crop and renders shading and pro- 

 tection from the wind less difficult. By Cradwick's 

 demonstrations in Jamaica many small settlers, who 

 previously were totally ignorant of the art of budding, 

 have obtained uniformly successful results in budding 

 CrioUo on Forastero stocks. 



The budding and grafting of cocoa provide the planter 



