April, 1910.] 31 



A distance of thirty to forty feet 

 should be allowed between the trees 

 when developed. For quick returns 

 from budded trees it is recommended to 

 plant 15 feet by 15 feet or 20 feet by 20 

 feet and to cut out every alternate tree 

 when the growth requires it. 



With the mango, the young buds are 

 not of use for budding. The buds from 

 wood 1| to 2 years old showing leaf scars 

 on the bare bark, should be selected. 

 It is useless to attempt budding unless 

 the bark lifts freely. When the trees 

 are flushing, the bark can be lifted 

 easily and there is no difficulty in re- 

 moving the buds with the slips of excised 

 bark. Buds can be inserted either by 

 cutting out a corresponding piece on the 

 bark of the branch to be treated, or the 

 bud can be slipped under a T-shaped 

 incision in the ordinary way. Raffia 

 fibre is a good medium for tying in 

 the buds. 



In budding old trees, do not cut down 

 the whole tree at once. The main 

 branches should be cut off about a foot 

 from the stem, taking care not to split 

 the arm, smoothing the edge of the 

 bark and protecting the cut surface 

 with tar. When the new growth is 1 

 to If inches in diameter it is fit to take 

 a bud. When the buds have started 

 to grow the rest of the bunches can be 

 cut down and similarly treated. 



It is important to observe that an 

 old tree cut off short below the main 

 branches will probably die, and that 

 care is required in lopping old trees 

 not to remove the whole of the foliage 

 at one operation. When the new shoots 

 have grown, the old stumps of the 

 original branches should be carefully 

 cut close back with a slope toward 

 the trunk of the tree. 



It is very important in pruning a 

 mango tree to cut close to the main 

 branch or stem so that the wound can 

 heal rapidly. The bark should be bevel- 

 led with a sharp knife and the cut end 

 treated with tar. Careless lopping of 

 old trees will result in attacks of insects 

 and fungi upon the exposed tissue, and 

 the death of the trees will be greatly 

 hastened. 



As it is now proposed for the depart- 

 ment to test budded mangoes on an 

 area of over 800 acres of land, we should 

 in a few years have definite results upon 

 which the commercial basis of the high- 

 class mango as an article of export 

 from Jamaica can be determined. I am 

 convinced that those planters who take 

 up the work of improving the mango 

 by budding in those districts of the 

 island where it fruits well and freely, 

 will reap a rich reward in the future. 

 40 



Edible Products. 



The choice East Indian mango is not 

 only a most grateful fruit to the palate 

 of any normal person, but it also pos- 

 sesses a fascination for those who have 

 acquired a taste for the fruit that 

 bespeaks an ever-growing demand when 

 this, the most luscious fruit of the 

 tropics, is made accessible to the peoples 

 of America and Europe. 



PRODUCTION OP RICE IN THE 



UNITED STATES. 

 Figures given for the last few years 

 (Tropenpflanzer, February, 1910, page 

 100) show : — 



1901 ... 388,000,000 lb- 



1903 ... 560,000,000 ,, 



1904 ... 586,000,000 „ 



1906 ... 496,000,000 „ 



1907 ... 520,000,000 „ 



1908 ... 608,000,000 „ 



of this, 52*8 % was from Louisiana, 

 41-8 % from Texas. 



THE TEA INDUSTRY. 



Some Modern Developments. II. 



(From the Indian Agriculturist, Vol, 

 XXXIV., No. 3, March, 1909.) 

 The tea bush differs from most other 

 agricultural plants in that it is grown, 

 with the exception of small plots for 

 seed purposes, entirely for its leaves ; 

 and when it is remembered that the 

 function of all vegetable growth is to 

 produce seed, it will at once be seen that 

 the tea bush has a duty to perform that 

 is really against the laws of nature. 

 And not only has the crop produced by 

 the tea bush no analogy in the history 

 of economic agriculture, but the process 

 of harvesting it is in itself very nearly 

 unique, and the gardener whose life has 

 been spent amidst flower beds and 

 orchards would fird himself absolutely 

 non-plussed if he were asked to gather 

 the crop of the tea bush. The pruning 

 of the tea bush would present no very 

 great difficulties to his mind, for it is 

 carried out on much the same lines as 

 that for fruit growing, but the identity 

 of agricultural procedure outside culti- 

 vation begins and ends there. 



PLUCKJNG. 



While the harvesting of the crop would 

 appear to be a very simple process, and 

 one in no way liable to error on the 

 part of the producer, this is not the 

 case. Plucking of tea as a fact is really 

 a matter for very much more consider- 

 ation than the collecting of most annual 

 crops. In the first place the harvesting 

 of the tea crop is not, as is the case with 



