Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

46 THE COCOA AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY flowers. Bass and wire scrubbing-brushes are sold for the express purpose of removing it, and in Grenada they spray their trees with a one per cent solution of copper sulphate to destroy it. Diseases and Pests. “ Husbandry is not governed by judgment and labour but by the most uncertain of circumstances, winds and tempests.” Although there is not so much truth in this observation to-day as when Cicero made it, it must be admitted that in spite of the advance of science, the planter is still at the mercy of Nature’s moods, and particularly of that most uncertain circumstance, the appearance of pests and diseases. It is not possible to estimate the power of insect enemies and vegetable parasites to damage commercial enterprise in cacao-planting, but it is certainly con-siderable, and however intelligent and industrious the planter may be, he is liable to loss from this cause. These attacks have one advantage, that the planter in his distress appeals, sometimes for the first time, for the best scientific help available. Frequently the advice the “ doctor ” gives is to teil the planter to maintain on his plantation the conditions which make for healthy trees, together with some specific instruction on how to attack the particular pest or disease. The hand of the planter is being greatly strengthened by the knowledge which the various departments of agriculture are collecting : the departments in Trinidad, Ceylon, Java, Jamaica, Surinam and the Cameroons being pioneers in this direction. (a) Diseases due to Fungi. The cause of these diseases was in the past a mystery to the planter, and their discovery has been the outcome of scientific research. A long account of these discoveries would make the danger from fungoid diseases appear greater than it is. The following are extracted from the