Jttly 1, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL 
AaKICCJLTtJRIST. 
9 
PLANTING FRUIT TREES. 
There are planters and planters. The first dig3 
out a small hole in hard, unmoved ground, and 
thrusts in tho roots about as deep again as they 
ought to be ; the earth is filled in and the planter 
passes on under the impression that he has done 
a good thing — for himself perhaps— bat certainly for 
posterity. Such comfortable feelings are all very 
well, and we would be the last to say a word that 
would deter anj'one from indulging in tree planting, 
but the subject demands that sentiment has no 
place ia this connection. V/e are bound to look at 
it in a practical light. Trees that are improperly 
planted never do well, therefore the inexperienced 
do not meet with the result their good intentions 
deserve. The ihcral, therefore, is that only those 
should engage in planting trees who are practically 
acquainted with the work. Before we go further 
let us dive a little deeper into the behaviour of 
trees which have been unskilfully planted. The 
first year they make no progress ; they live, and 
that is all that can be said about them. The nest 
year they do a little better, but the growth is not 
so strong as it ought to be. In succeeding yeais 
moss and lichen begin to accumulate on tho stem 
and branches, the result of the beneficial influence 
of sun and air. Trees in this condition from such 
a cause do not die, but at best they are short-lived 
as compared to those that were planted in a proper 
manner. Nor is the crop of much value ; invariably 
such trees bear irregular crops of small and badly- 
formed fruit. Let us now look at the behaviour of 
the trees which are planted by experienced hands. 
In the first place the cultivator makes his anxiety 
manifest to do the planting well by making himself 
acquainted with the character of the land. If it 
is of a retentive nature, with a heavy subsoil, he 
is careful to have the position efficiently drained. 
If the soil is poor, it will be enriched with manure : 
but, more than all, he will avoid planting a young 
tree in a spot from whence an old one has been 
removed. If he does so, the old exhausted soil is 
taken away and fresh soil put in its place ; but to 
avoid the labour attending the latter plan a fresh 
position altogether is selected, which in the end 
will be more satisfactory than supplying fresh soil 
to an old position. 
The Depth to Set the Roots. — In every case the 
careful planter will study to plant his trees in 
ground that has been well moved up 18iu. or 2ft. 
deep. If the whole of the space is not trenched 
over, then most of it must be, so that the roots 
have, for the first year or two at least, some 
recently -moved earth to feed upon. This> is not all 
that the experienced man does. He will not plant 
a tree more than a few inches beloiv the sur- 
rounding level on land that is liable to get water- 
logged in winter. In some cases ho will plant 
altogether on the surface, and place a mound of 
soil over the roots. This plan has much to re- 
commend it where there is not sufficient depth 
of good soil, as it gives the roots all the room 
there is of good earth ; but it is not advisable to 
plant on the surface on light gravelly laud. Such, 
then, are some of the differences between men 
who have experence in this matter a.nd those who have 
not. We have not drawn upon our imagination to 
prove a case. We, and many others, have long been 
familiar with such mistakes in planting, and have 
seen' both time and money wasted ; but in all 
probability more trees are crippled through deep 
planting than from any other cause. Some cultivators 
of fruit purposely plant the roots deeper than they 
otherwise would do under the impression that the 
trees are not so easily blovvn dovvTi when they get 
old. A very little reasoning ought to convince any- 
one that they are under a mistake. To bury the 
stem of a "tree more than 6 in. under the surface 
is''an"6rror ;that will speedily show itself in its after 
behaviour. This is a fact that has been demonstrated 
in practice many times during our experience, where 
people in making alterations have, when excavating 
out the soil for a road, buried up the sterna of 
trees 2ft. or more in height rather than remove 
them altogether. The result has always been that 
the trees so dealt with died in a few years. We 
therefore maintaia that, if old trees suffer by having 
their roots too deep, young ones would also suffer 
in a proportionate degree.— The "Fruit Grower," 
London. 
PRUNING. 
By H. Constantine Thomas, Jamaica. 
Pruning, from an agricultural point of view, may 
be briefly defined as regulating growth, cutting 
away all superfluous growth for the benefit of a 
tree or its fruit. Pruning is one of the most delicate 
and yet important branches of agriculture ; not 
even a leaf should be cut off a plant unless the 
operator has some definite object in vievv' ; ignorantly 
performed, its injurious effects do not hesitate to 
manifest themselves, such as taking a cutlass and 
chopping off a branch from a cocoa tree a foot 
from the stem, the piece left on starts decaying, 
and this process continues right into the main stem 
itself, and often results in the death of the tree. 
On the other hand, when carried ont intelligently 
by individuals who base their practice on the laws 
governing vegetation, regular symmetrical growth, 
production of well developed leaves, branches and 
fruits are secured. The beneficial results of pruning, 
done at the proper time, and in a proper manner, 
are too numerous for enumeration here, but I 
mention a few. By pruning, all the fruit-bearing 
branches of a tree are fully exposed to a free access 
of air and light : two things that are absolutely 
indispensable for the successful culture of plants. 
Leaves are the digestive organs of a plant, and 
should not be destroyed wilfully. The best season 
for pruning is a question of great importance, since 
the conditions under which the plants to be pruned 
are placed act such a prominent part, but under 
ordinary environments I think the best season is 
nearly the end of the dry season, just prior to the 
heavy rains, which in most of our districts can be 
correctly guessed. The implements are a pruning 
knife, a pruning saw, a pair of shears, and, in case 
of large trees, pole-pruning shears or a tree-pruner« 
The wounds must be smooth, i.e., after using the 
saw take the knife and smooth off the surface well ; 
the benefit derived therefrom is that ''it renders 
their healing easier, quicker, and with less strain on 
the plant. After having smoothed the surface of a 
wound it is also beneficial to rub it over with a 
little tar. This is a very useful antiseptic and ia 
retailed at a very reasonable price. 
Pruning at, the time' of transplanting is very 
technical. If citrus plants for example have to be 
transplanted during the dry season all the leaves 
must be carefully removed, as in such a case they 
wonld help to kill the plant by letting off all the mois- 
ture they contained ; if it happens to be rainy they 
are to be left. Citrus trees require very little pruning 
after they are established ; once in two years, and 
that slightly, is enough ; in such cases the operator 
should confine himself chiefly to the removal of 
dried twigs-- Some plants need constant and regular 
pruning ; the cocoa for example. It is quite an 
ordinary thing for people to plaut out "at stake" 
and never look after the plants from the day they 
discover that the seeds have grown until they are bear- 
ing. This plant naturally sends out branches as 
soon as it has reached the heigh of three or four 
aud a half feet under favourable conditions ; when 
shaded excessively it grows a long, spindly stem, 
often branching when entirely out of easy reach, 
and since climbing is detrimental, it is best to grow 
the plants so that the fruits can be obtained more 
easily ; In climbing the fiower-buds are rubbed off, 
thus lessening the nest crop. I cannot deal vpith 
the general culture of the plant here, so returning 
