Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

CULTIVATION OF THE CACAO BEAN 41 and these temporary shade plants, which are planted before the cacao, provide profitable “ catch-crops ’’ in the meantime. The need for permanent shade trees is not so obvious. It is a disputed question for cacao and coffee alike, and by sensitive ears a continuous discussion of this question can be heard rumbling round the tropics— Says old Mr. Trinidad : My cacao would die without shade. Mr. Grenada : Mine doesn’t; why should yours ? Everyone knows that we planters depend for our crop on a good flowering, and flowering is promoted by light and air. Therefore, don’t shade ; don’t smother. Mr. Trinidad : Quite so, but it isn’t the tree we aim. at shading so much as the soil. And if we didn't protect the soil from sun and wind, we could not conserve the moisture in the soil, and the trees would wither. Mr. Grenada : Agreed ; and the best way to accomplish that is not by shading. In Grenada we keep the soil in condition by the Use of wind-belts, by close planting, and careful tillage of the soil. Mr. Trinidad : Careful tillage is too costly for me. By the way, did you hear of that mountain estate in Grenada where the shade was taken out and the estate ruined ? Mr. Grenada : No I Have you heard of the plots on the Agricultural Department’s estate in Trinidad where the shade was taken out and as a result the crops greatly increased ? Mr. Trinidad : I have. They say since letting in the sunlight the borer beetle has been very prevalent. The crop certainly increased at first, but a wise man would wait a few years before drawing conclusions. The verdict of the years will be greatly helped by the series of experiments which are being conducted in Trinidad, and the consideration which is being given to the relation of wind-breaks to shade. A cacao tree in one situation dies of what it would live by in another, and planters know well the importance of finding for each situation its appropriate method. The principles on which agricultural science is founded are very general, and their application to particular cases must be equally particular. Save in Grenada, Brazil, Bahia, the Gold