“The ground for the nursery-bed is prepared during the latter part of the dry season by breaking it up very thoroughly to the depth of a foot or more. The fruits mature during the early part of the rainy season, December and January. They are red, and consist of a fleshy outer portion and a shell-like inner portion, which encloses the single seed. These people suppose that the germ cannot escape from the shell if planted in its natural condition, and they have continued for hundreds of years to deposit the seeds as soon as gathered in a shaded place, in layers an inch or more deep, and covered with a thin layer of decaying leaves, or similar substance. The heat generated by the decomposition of the fleshy pericarp serves to induce germination, and the embryo bursts from its bony covering. This growth unites them in from eight to fourteen days into a solid mass, which is broken up into small pieces and planted in furrows in the nursery. In this process very many of the sprouts are broken off and the plants destroyed. Mr. Lohse has adopted the plan of sowing the seeds broadcast as soon as gathered, and covering with a little earth, or, better, a layer of banana leaves or decaying vegetable matter. Germination requires from eight to twelve days longer, but all the plants are saved. In either case, a covering of brush or straw must be placed over the nursery, at first only three or four inches above the surface, and elevated to six or seven inches, as the plants grow. Usually this elevation is repeated once more.