March 1908. J 



207 



Edible Products* 



seed bed, and careful attention should be 

 given to keep tillage in order, so as to 

 ensure the development of a good root 

 system. 



Seed for planting purposes should be 

 carefully selected from good, healthy, 

 heavy-bearing trees, and should be 



E laced in a fine sieve and kept stirred by 

 and, while water is poured over it to 

 remove mucilage. The seeds are then 

 dried in the shade, and when dry they 

 should be planted thinly, at a depth of 

 about an inch, in drills, the distance 

 from drill to drill being about 8 or 9 

 inches. It is important to remember 

 that lime seeds do not retain their vital- 

 ity very long, and therefore should be 

 sown as soon as possible after washing 

 and drying. When lime seeds are sown 

 unwashed, they are very often destroyed 

 by rats. 



When the seedlings are from 4 to 6 

 inches high, they are ready to be trans- 

 planted into the nursery beds. The 

 plants should be carefully lifted with 

 forks, the roots trimmed, and the stem 

 topped, and they should be set out in 

 rows 8 or 9 inches apart, and with the 

 same distance from plant to plant in 

 the rows. 



In is estimated that a seed bed 100 feet 

 long by 5 feet wide, planted with seed in 

 drills 8 inches apart, should give from 

 5,000 to 6,000 strong seedlings, and these 

 would fill five nursery beds. From these, 

 at least 4,500 plants fit for planting in 

 the field should be obtained. 



PLANTING OUT. 



The planting season for limes is from 

 June to December, but early planting is 

 to be recommended, for then the plant 

 has time to make satisfactory growth 

 before the dry season commences. 



Limes are planted at varying distances 

 apart, according to individual opinion 

 and locality. In some places they are 

 planted as close as 10 feet by 10 feet, or 

 12 feet by 12 feet, while in rare instances 

 18 feet by 18 feet, or 20 feet by 20 feet 

 has been practised. Trees planted at 

 wide distances, when mature, give better 

 results than closely planted trees, for 

 owing to the hemispherical shape of the 

 trees they present a greater bearing area, 

 and probably it may be found that a 

 system of planting the trees 10 to 12 feet 

 apart in the rows, and 20 to 25 feet 

 between the rows, would prove success- 

 ful, and would facilitate many estate 

 operations such as pruning, manuring, 

 etc. Such a system is further to be 

 recommended, since it would allow suffi- 

 cient space for apparatus used in spray- 

 ing operations to pass up the rows con- 

 veniently, and the fields should be laid 

 out so that the rows might run across 



the direction of the prevailing wind. 

 The plants thus make, in some degree, a 

 protection for themselves. 



The land should be carefully lined at 

 the distances chosen, and holes about 18 

 inches deep, and from 12 to 15 inches 

 square, shoidd be opened for some time 

 before the lime plants are placed out. 



When they are from 18 to 24 inches 

 high, the plants are ready for setting 

 out, and they should be carefully lifted 

 with forks from the nursery beds. The 

 ends of the branches should be cut back 

 3 or 4 inches, and thus the plants should 

 be placed in bundles or baskets or trays 

 for conveyance to the field. The roots 

 should be watered and kept moist until 

 planted, for good results cannot be 

 expected if the roots are allowed to be- 

 come dry or exposed. The plants should 

 be carefully placed in the soil at about 

 the same depth as they grew in the 

 nursery beds, and the lateral roots care- 

 fully spread out, while the soil in holes 

 around the plants should be moulded up 

 several inches above the level of the 

 surrounding ground in order to ensure 

 that no water should settle around the 

 stems and roots during wet weather. 



AFTER-CULTIVATION. 



The lime may under favourable con 

 ditions commence to give a few fruits in 

 the third year after planting, but ex- 

 perienced lime planters consider that 

 eight to ten years is the time required to 

 bring a lime plantation into full bearing. 



If limes are planted among sugar-cane, 

 the canes are, under good management, 

 gradually removed from the land as the 

 lime trees develop. The same course is 

 followed in respect to limes among garden 

 crops, whereas when they are planted in 

 grass or guava bush, or in newly-cleared 

 forest lands, a gradually increased area 

 is cleared around the plants themselves 

 as they develop, and the grass and bush 

 between them are cutlassed occasionally 

 and applied to the soil round the trees as 

 a mulch. 



Crops usually grown for green dress- 

 ings are now being planted in lime plant- 

 ations, at the time of the first rains, to 

 keep down the weeds during the growing 

 season. They are cut down two or three 

 times during the year to yield a mulch, 

 and early in the dry season should be 

 completely pulled up and used for mulch- 

 ing the lime plants themselves. Of the 

 various green dressings tried, the horse 

 bean ( Canavalict ensiformis) has proved 

 very useful for growing among young 

 lime trees on the coastal land of 

 Dominica, while in Montserrat the Bengal 

 bean proved of value. 



Lime trees require but little pruning, 

 but all suckers and dead branch es should 



