As in the Tempests called _Ouragans_ the Wind blows from all Points of the Compass in twenty-four Hours, it will be well if it does not break in at the weakest Place of the Nursery, and do a great deal of Mischief, which it is necessary to remedy with all possible expedition. If the Wind has only overturn'd the Trees without breaking the chief Root, then the best Method that can be taken in good Soil, is to raise them up again, and put them in their Places, propping them up with a Fork, and putting in the Earth about it very carefully: By this means they will be re-establish'd in less than six Months, and they will bear again as if no harm had come to them. In bad Soil, it will be better to let them lie, putting the Earth about the Roots, and cultivate at their lower Parts, or Feet, the best grown Sucker, and that which is nearest the Roots, cutting off carefully all the rest: The Tree in this Condition will not give over blossoming and bearing Fruit; and when in two Years time the Sucker is become a new Tree, the old Tree must be cut off half a Foot distant from the Sucker. FOOTNOTES: [x] These are Citruls whose Pulp is very yellow. CHAP IV. Of the gathering of the _Cocao-Nuts_, and the Manner of making them sweat, and of drying them that they may be brought sound into _Europe_. The Observations which we made in the first Chapter, concerning the Alterations of the Colour of the Nuts, give us information of the time that they become ripe. It will be proper to gather them when all the Shell has changed Colour, and when there is but a small Spot below which shall remain green. They go from Tree to Tree, and from Row to Row, and with forked Sticks or Poles, they cause the ripe Nuts to fall down, taking great care not to touch those that are not so, as well as the Blossoms: They employ the most handy _Negroes_ in this Work, and others follow them with Baskets to gather them, and lay them in Heaps, where they remain four Days without being touch'd. In the Months that they bear most, they gather them for a Fortnight together; in the less-fruitful Seasons, they only gather them from Month to Month. If the Kernels were left in Shells more than four Days, they would sprit, or begin to grow, and be quite spoiled[y]: It is therefore necessary to shell them on the fifth Day in the Morning at farthest. To do this, they strike on the middle of the Shells with a Bit of Wood to cleave them, and then pull them open with their Fingers, and take out the Kernels, which they put in Baskets, casting the empty Shells upon the Ground, that they may with the Leaves, being putrified, serve to fatten the Earth, and supply the Place of Dung.