Edible Producta. 



536 



[December, 1908. 



room for the spraying outfits to pass up 

 and down the rows to do their work 

 thoroughly. 



This system of planting might be 

 adopted with advantage in dry soils, but 

 in moist valleys the tendency of the 

 lime tree is to throw out long whippy 

 branches which are unable satisfac- 

 torily to support the weight of the crop. 

 Wide planting in such situations might 

 necessitate extensive propping, an oper- 

 ation that is costly. 



In laying out a field on this principle, 

 the rows might be run across the direc- 

 tion of the prevailing winds, and thus 

 made, in some degree, to protect each 

 other from wind. 



After-Cultivation. 

 The period from the time of planting 

 to when the lime trees pay for their 

 cultivation and yield a profit varies 

 according to the soil, position, and culti- 

 vation. The lime may, under favour- 

 able conditions, commence to give a few 

 fruits in the third year after planting, 

 but experienced men consider that eight 

 to ten years is the time necessary 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 

 lime trees develop. The same course is 

 followed in respect to limes among 

 garden crops. When limes are olanted 

 in grass or guava-bush lands, or in 

 newly-cleared forest lands, a gradually 

 increased area is kept clean aioundthe 

 plants as they develop, and the grass 

 and bush between them are cutlassed 

 occasionally and applied to the soil 

 around the trees as a mulch. 



Now that the acreage under young 

 limes in Dominica is considerable, the 

 need of a green dressing that will cover 

 the land and keep down weeds in fields 

 being established with limes is much felt. 

 Such a leguminous plant should be a 

 strong dwarf grower that will cover 

 the land thickly and quickly and keep 

 down the weeds. 



Seeds of the green dressing should be 

 sown with the first rains, so that its 

 growth during the growing season may 

 keep the weeds under. It should bear 

 being cut over two or three times a year 

 to yield a mulch, and afterwards should 

 spring into growth again rapidly. Early 

 in the dry season it should be pulled up 

 by the roots and used for mulching the 

 lime plants. 



Of the green dressings tried at 

 Dominica, the one that comes uearest to 

 filling the above requirements success- 

 fully is the horse bean (Canavalia 

 ensiformis). This may prove very useful 



for growing among young lime trees on 

 lands near to the coast, but it has not 

 yet been fully experimented with on the 

 west uplands. 



Bengal beans are used in Monsterrat. 

 They are allowed to grow over the 

 lime trees, and their growth appears 

 to have favourable influence towards 

 keeping scale insects in check. Soil 

 enrichment is probably a secondary 

 consideration in this case. 



Lime trees require but little pruning, 

 but all suckers and dead branches should 

 be rigorously removed. If the suckers 

 are allowed to remain, the middle of the 

 trees become choked, and the main bear- 

 ing branches tend to die off. Should a 

 tree at any time lose one of its main 

 branches by accident, a sucker may be 

 grown and trained to take the place of the 

 lost branch. When the main branches 

 are formed, the Aveakf under-branches 

 should be pruned off, so as to direct the 

 whole strength of the tree to the 

 upper branches. 



In consideration of the bare-footed 

 workers on lime estates, all primings of 

 the spiny variety should be dragged to 

 an open space and burned, and not, as 

 is usual with pruning generally, allowed 

 to remain for use as manure. 



From the time the young trees are 

 planted, and during the life of the plant- 

 ation, the aim of the planter should be to 

 keep the land in good condition by 

 maintaining, and, if possible, increasing 

 the percentage of humus in the soil by 

 the application of pen manure, or by 

 means of f requent mulches of bush and 

 grass from adjoining lands. It is seldom 

 that an estate produces sufficient pen 

 manure for its cultivation, but this defl- 

 cency in islands like Dominica can be 

 made up by applications of bush and 

 grass to the land as mulchings. Grass 

 and bush may also be carted into pens 

 to increase the supply of pen manure. 

 By these means the plants will be kept 

 supplied with plant food. 



The skins of the limes after passing 

 through the mill are greedily eaten by 

 cattle and are also valuable as manure. 

 All skins should be placed in the cattle 

 pens to make manure. Similarly, lime 

 seeds should be placed in pens to decay. 

 By using the lime skins and lime seeds 

 in the pens and adding good supplies of 

 grass and bush, tbe planter can make 

 valuable manure for application to his 

 plantation. 



Wood ashes from the furnaces, which 

 contain potash and some lime, should 

 also always be saved for application to 

 the lime fields at a convenient time. 



