Vol. VJI. No. l.J4. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



IN THE WEST 



CACAO EXPERIMENTS 

 INDIES. 



Afc the recent West Inrli.in Agricultural Confer- 

 ence, held at Barbado.s, Mr. Joseph' Jones, Curator of 

 thi Dominica Jj<jtanie Station, reati the followinrr p.-iper, 

 deiiling with the iirop.iirat.ion of cacao by budding and 

 gialting : — 



The variety ot' cac.m first giowii in the West Indies Wtas 

 the Criollo, tlie best kind, but verly suscei)tible to any 

 adverse conditions. yUn-f hardy varietie-s, introduced latei-, 

 are the Foi-astero and Calabacillo, winch to-day are cultivated 

 so lari;ely in tlie British' West Indies. ■ 



At the present time Criollo cacao appears to be grown 

 on any scale only in favourable localities on tlie mainland 

 of Central America. Its produce is of the highest ijuality, 

 but the tree is delicate, and the yield per tree is low. This 

 is compensated for by the high prices which this variety 

 fetches. 



From time to time attempts have been made to giow 

 Criollo cacao in Donnnica, but success has never followed 

 any of ihem. Plantei-s who have trie 1 to grow it e.\[)ress 

 regret for what exiierience teaches them v,'a.s wasted eflbrt. 

 The growing of the Forastero and Calabacillo varieties 

 of cacao in the West Indies has been a great counnercial 

 success. Although the beans are inferior and, in the 

 Calabacillo, extremely bitter, there is still a great demand for 

 it, and it pays to grow. 



Commencing with the cultivation, of the licst kind, the 

 cacao planter has been fnrced to give this up in fivour of 

 the Forastero variety, a hardier type yielrling a lower- 

 grade produce Very large plantations of this exist to-day, 

 but the variety appears to be weakening. Investigations 

 made liy scientists, at the instance of planters, have ."^hown 

 how numerous are the enennes of the, cacao tree. Several 

 of these diseases have been de.scribed and their seriousness 

 has been pointed out. One or nujre of them may become 

 virulent at any time and inflict great loss on planters. The 

 ravages caused by the ' Witch Broom ' disease in Surinam 

 must be fre.sh in the memory of all interested in these matters. 

 Some planters now grow the Calabacillo variety alone, 

 on account of its hardiness and freedom from disea.se. Those 

 who know by e.xperience how harassing is the presence of the 

 ' canker ' and kindred diseases in a plantation will understand 

 why planters prefer hardy trees and a low-grade produce, to 

 delicate trees, bearing high-grade produce. 



The method of propagating cacao is the same to-day as 

 always practised. Good pods from tfees showing some 

 de.sirable quality are usually selected and, sown. iSucli seed- 

 lings, if planted under good conditions, cpmmence to bear in 

 five or six years and reach their prime when twelve to fifteen 

 years old. Owing to cro.ss-fertilization, very few are exactly 

 like the parent, and seed from one Forastero tree will 

 produce plants of the Forastero type and also of all its sub- 

 varieties. It is due to this fact tliat it is, not possible to take 

 full advantage for propagation purposes of trees that some- 

 times appear on plantations and are noticeable on account 

 of their hardiness, freedom from disease, and good bearing 

 qualities. 



It is important that when trees showing desiralde (piali- 

 ties have been noticed and have been tested for a luunlier cif 

 years, these types shoidd be fixed and perpetuated. This can 

 be done by budding and grafting. 



The Botanical Depaitnient of Jamaica has slupwn that 

 budding of cacao can be done under certain conditions. The 

 Botanical Department of Trinidad reconunended the grafting 

 of cacao some years ago. 



Experiments conducted at the Dominica Botanic Station 

 show that grafting cacao by approach can l:ie fairly easily 

 carried out. A tree of good type is selected, and rough 

 stages are erected round it at varying heights in such positio'ns 

 as to be able to obtain a maximum of young shoots to graft 

 on the stocks which have already been grown in nurseries iu 

 I'amboo pots. The pots are placed on the staging, young 

 shoots of the cacao tree of the same age and thickness as the 

 stocks are carefully denuded of their leaves at the point where 

 they are to be fitted to the stocks, a portion of the bark is 

 removed with a .-harp knife both from the scion and the stalk, 

 and the two are gently but firmly bound together with garden 

 tying. A small piece of bark is cut from the stem of the 

 scion below the graft so as to make it more de|iendent on the 

 stock and to hasten the union. In short, it is simply the well- 

 known .system of grafting mangos by ai)proacl 

 cacao. 



applied to 



At certain .seasons, with good, healthy stocks, cacao can 

 be grafted in six weeks ; but the average time may be placed 

 at about ten weeks. The jjlants must be watered daily. 

 When ready to be taken off, they may be planted in the field 

 at once or may lie remoxx'd to a shady nurst-ry and watered 

 daily until the time of planting. 



At present the only stocks available are the Calabacillo 

 and strong Forastero kinds. Theohroma Jlicolor has been 

 tried as a stock and has failed. It is possible, if the known 

 species of Thcoliroma could be brought together, that one 

 or more might prove more hardy than riieohrumu Cacao, and 

 at the same time suitable as a stock on which tn uraft the 

 commercial kinds. 



It will, of course, be more costly t<, plant a field of 

 cacao with grafted than with seedling plants, but the 

 advantage should rest later with the grafted plants. Nothing 

 should be used for propagation but prolific, well-tried kinds'^ 

 that have shown them.selves resistant to the diseases now 

 in-evalent in cacao plantations. Some of the advantages that 

 should be gained by this method may be stated belo\\^:— 



(1) A planter would be able to grow fields of plants of 

 one .selected strain, the beans of which would all reijuire just 

 the same degree of fermentation. 



(2) It would be possilde to jiropagate disease-resistintr 

 varieties. " 



(3) Grafted i)lant 

 than .seedlings, thus 

 invested. 



(-t) The retui-n jier 

 selection of jirolific types 



(5) The ettect of grafting may tend to dwarf the plants. 

 This would be an advantage in islands which sufi'er from 

 much -windy weather. 



(6) The growing of grafted selected cacao, combined with 

 intensive cultivation, would be the high-wate 

 successful cacao cultivation 



well cared for, should fruit earlier 

 iviiig a quicker return on capital 



acre should be 



increa.sed by the 



?r mark of 



Over 200 grafted iilants have been taken from two 

 selected trees in the Botanic Station. Sixty have been 

 planted in the gardens. These will be carefully watched and 

 the results recorded later. A number of these are the Alliga- 

 tor cacao {Theohfomn ]i('iita<joiia) worked on Forastero stocks. 



On estates where the area of cultivation is being increased 

 each year, the .system mentioned above should be tried. It 

 should be a recognizetl [.art of estate work to propagate 

 by grafting, the l>est strains of cacao. Botanic Stations can- 

 not in this instance supply l.uge quantities of plants, because 

 cacao plants in bamboo pots cannot be conveyed loner 

 distances by road in islands like Dominica, without con-side?- 

 alile expen.se and probable injury to the plants. 



