Cocoa And Chocolate
The Tree, The Bean The Beverage

80 THE COCOA AND CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY Ceylon once had an annual value of half that sum; in a few years the crop was reduced by 99 per cent, and the industry ruined, owing to the coffee leaf disease. Before 1910 one heard little of diseases and pests on the Coast ; to-day the list of those that are trouble-some is a long one. Of diseases due to microscopic fungi, “ Brown pod ” or “ Black pod ” {Phytophthora) is the most widespread. Thread blight (Marasmius scan-dens, Massee) and “ Die back ” (Diplodia cacaoicola) are also known. It is curious to read that a kind of Mistletoe (Loranthus) causes serious trouble. Of insect enemies, the “ Stern Sappers ” {Sahlbergella singularis, Hagl., and S. Theobroma, Distant) are well known for their destructive effects. The natives call them “ Sankonuabe," which signifies : give up cacao and “ go back and pluck palm nuts.” The “ Cocoa mosquito ” {Helopeltis Bergrothi) is also a serious pest. The presence of various borers, the Glenea borer beetle and more rarely Armatosterua baquetiana and Chara-coma stictigrapta, Hamps., have also been observed, as well as Thrips and the Megalopygid moth (Eulopho-notus myrmeleon). The list is formidable, but one knows that everything that can be done in an advisory capacity is being done by the energetic Department of Agriculture and its provincial staff. There is also the Gold Coast Agricultural and Commercial Society, which was formed in 1921, and which issues a very lively journal. The publications of both the Department and the Society show how the intelligent and educated representatives of all classes are alive to the dangers, and it is generally felt that, given sufficient encouragement by prices graduated according to quality, and by the merchants’ refusal of any cacao of inferior grade, the standard of cultivation and prepara-tion for the market will continue to rise. The European