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therefore deteriorating. I should like to know whether this has 

 been found to be the case also in Trinidad. Do you find you can 

 plant Criollo and keep it up, or have you gradually to revert to 

 Forastero ? We have in Jamaica a considerable tract of land in 

 the western part where the remains of cocoa are still found grow- 

 ing, and almost without exception the variety is Criollo. Some of 

 these trees are said to be 1 00 years old and yet they are bearing 

 heavily and doing well. But the question is whether the seeds 

 from these trees can be utilized for establishing new estates of 

 pure Criollo. With reference to the question of Criollo growing 

 well and being supplied where it is already established, I wonder 

 whether a system of budding on strong stocks would not apply. 

 For instance, on estates in Venezuela, where they found they could 

 not successfully establish Criollo in vacant places and have had to 

 plant Forastero instead, would it not be possible to bud on the 

 Forastero from their Criollo trees ? We have been experimenting 

 with budding and found we can do it with success. Again, in our 

 cocoa estates we find many of the trees do not bear anything like 

 as well as other trees, and we want to know whether we cannot 

 improve them. Will it not be advisable to cut down those trees 

 and bud on the shoot that springs up, from one of the more valua- 

 ble trees on the estate ? Another matter we do not understand is 

 shade. That seems to me to be a very complicated question. In 

 Grenada they do not use any shade, and in Trinidad they use 

 shade everywhere and find they cannot do without it. What is 

 the reason ? Is the shade wanted for the trees or the soil ? If it is 

 wanted for the soil, then you do not want shade trees, as the cocoa 

 will provide its own shade. Is it necessary to have shade at all, 

 or is it a question rather of cultivation ? Do the roots of shade 

 trees keep the ground open, or might that be overcome by the use 

 of cultivators ? One of our most practical agriculturists in Jamaica 

 started five or six years ago a cocoa estate in the middle of the 

 island, and he is convinced in his own mind that there it is neces- 

 sary to have shade. But on the north side of the island it has 

 been proved that shade is not required. I am inclined to think 

 that shade produces moss on the trees and leads to fungus disease 

 which might otherwise be avoided, and that the more sun you can 

 reasonably allow to the cocoa trees, the heavier the crops will prove. 



Dr. H. A. A. NiCHOLLS : The practice in Dominica is not to use 

 shade, but trees are planted, in some cases running along lines, so as 

 to serve as wind-breaks. I remember that fourteen years ago when 

 I made my second visit to Trinidad I was told that shade was neces- 

 sary ; so I obtained seeds of Bois Immortel from a friend and planted 

 them among my cocoa. I was very sorry I did so ; but the hurricane, 

 which did so much damage to the cocoa estates in Dominica, did 

 me some good in throwing down my Bois Immortel. The experi- 

 ence of the Dominica planter is that cocoa grows better without 

 shade than with it. I was exercised in mind a good deal by 

 remarks made to me some years ago as to the advantages 

 of a tree which is used here as shade. I was gravely tol4 



