840 
have not been nicked or y ta£a* as they say In Tagalog. The 
nicked or slashed trees after smoking will produce fruits 
three months earlier than those that have not been nicked 
or smoked. The object of the smoking is, according to the 
natives, to cause the tree to produce flowers earlier and 
to have the - fruit ripen earlier. It also helps to dry the 
flowers which have. become wet from the dew and materially 
helps to keep down the harmful insects and fungus. The 
smoking is stopped when the fruit is the size of a marble. 
Nicking is performed when the tree reaches the age of six 
or seven years. The time selected Is about the first part 
of November, which is the dry period in the province of 
Cavite. -The tree is first nicked from the ground upward 
as far on the trunk as it is possible to reach or to the 
first branch. Care should be taken not to Injure the cam- 
bium layer to too great an extent. This nicking is done 
by a sharp bolo. When I first saw the nicking and smoking 
stunt used on mango trees, I was of the opinion that It 
was more, injurious than beneficial, but now after three 
years of observation I can readily see that It Is a won- 
derful help to trees raised from seeds. They fruit and 
fruit earlier than those not treated in the manner de- 
scribed and I have never seen any bad results caused by 
the nicking or smoking. This Is saying a good deal as I 
have seen mango trees in every large island of the Philip- 
pines, treated in the manner described. There is another 
matter, regarding manos, which I spoke to you about when 
last in Washington: namely the method employed by the 
natives for keeping mangos six months. It is as follows: 
A kerosene tin which holds five gallons is used as the re- 
ceptacle. An equal amount of second grade molasses and 
sawdust is mixed or as much molasses as the sawdust will 
absorbis used. The quantity of the above material used 
depends upon the amount of mangos placed In the tin. It 
is however, necessary to have the mangos completely im- 
mersed. The tin is then made air tight by soldering. The 
second grade molasses is cheap here, due to the large num- 
ber of sugar mills, so the expense thus incurred is very 
little. I have arranged to have one tin of the first man- 
gos packed in this manner sent to you so that you may see 
if the method is 0. K." 
Philippines. Manila. Mr. Wm. S. Lyon writes, March 19, 
1915. "A matter of two weeks ago I mailed you a small tin 
of fresh seed of Chaetospermum but forwarded you no infor- 
mation on same. Since reading Mr. Swingle's monograph on 
'Cltropsis', I am prompted to ask you whether or not he 
has successfully worked any standard varieties of the 
orange on Chaetospermum, and if any tests have yet been 
made in growing them under arid conditions. I think, but 
am not quite certain that I wrote to you that this species 
occurs on well drained gravelly hillsides where seventy 
