JAMAICA. 



BXJLT.BTIN 



OK THE 



DEPARTMENT OF AURICULTME. 



Vol. III. SEPTEMBER, 1905. Part 9. 



COCOA AT THE AGRICULTURAL CONFERENCE, 

 1905, AT TRINIDAD. I.* 



EXPERIMENTS IN IMPROVING THE HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVENESS 



OF COCOA TREES. 



Mr. J. H. Hart (Trinidad) : Our experiments have only just been 

 initiated and have hardly reached a stage to justify saying any- 

 thing about them. One or two things have, however, been brought 

 to the notice of planters, and have, I am glad to say, been taken 

 advantage of with considerable success. The first is the method 

 of dealing with the pod disease. The methods suggested by me 

 to the Trinidad Agricultural Society, and also by the Imperial 

 Department of Agriculture, which consist in the burning, burying, 

 and disinfecting of diseased pods, have been especially successful 

 in dealing with the disease called Phytopthora, and I was agreeably 

 surprised to be told recently that, as the result of their adoption 

 on one of the largest estates in the island, the proprietors expected 

 to get 25 per cent, more cocoa than he otherwise would have done. 

 Mr. deGannes has also adopted similar treatment with equal suc- 

 cess. Another thing which we have been trying to impress upon 

 small planters especially is the desirability of pruning cocoa trees 

 so as not to leave wounds which cause rot of the centre of the 

 stem. Again, where wounds and holes occur we strongly recom- 

 mend a system of cleaning them and filling them with a mixture 

 made of ordinary cement and sand. This gives the trees renewed 

 vigour and prolongs their life for many years. Tar is also recom- 

 mended for use in pruning and I am glad to say the practice has 

 been adopted on a large number of estates. Few manurial experi- 

 ments have as yet been carried out, but those recomended are being 

 adopted, and I shall be able to report on them at a later period. 



Mr. J. G. DEGannes (Trinidad) : With few exceptions the cocoa 

 cultivation in this Island has received, up to a year or two ago, 

 little attention beyond the ordinary method of upkeep handed 

 down by our forefathers, but it seems now as though the cocoa 

 planters are realizing the necessity of higher cultivation. So far, 

 artificial manures have not been extensively made use of, but 

 where they are being tried, the results are encouraging. Basic 

 slag is the manure most generally applied. Some very good re- 



* Reprinted from W. I. Bulletin, Vol. VI., No. 1, 1905, page 65. 



