100 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



Makch 25, 1916. 



FRUIT AND FRUIT PRODUCTS. 



THE BUDDING OF CACAO IN TRINIDAD. 



Tlie Proceedings of the Agricultural Society nf 2\ini'/ail 

 and Tohitcjo for January 1916, includes, amongst its contents, 

 'Notes on the Budding of Cacao on an Estate Scale in 

 Trinidad,' by Mr. W. G. Freeman, Assistant Director of 

 Agriculture and Govferiimciit Chemist, which is the title of 

 a paper I'oad before the Society on .January 14 last. 



Before dealing with the more recent work on budding, 

 Mr. Freeman makes a few remarks on the grafting of cacao, 

 in course of which fitliiig references are made to the earlier 

 work of grafting carried on by the late Mr. .J. H. Hart at 

 St. Clair Experiment Station, Trinidad, dating back to 

 189iS, and by Mr. Jo.scph Jones, Curator at tlie liotanic 

 Station in Dominica, from 1906 onward. 



Budding of cacao in Trinidad, it is stated, on an estate 

 scale, practically dates from 1913. Two plants had been 

 done earlier in Tobago, but the percentage of failures was 

 so high that the method did not appear likely to be of any 

 estate value. In November 1913 Mr. Freeman exhibited 

 plants at the Board of Agriculture, and exfjlained how 

 ]Mes*rs. J. C. Augustus and J. de Verteuil had obtained 

 sixteen budded plants from forty attempts. In July 1914 

 a practical demonstration was given at St. Clair Experiment 

 Station, where the method of budding cacao in bamboo pots 

 in the nursery was shown, and the history of budding briefly 

 recapitulated. During 191.5 budding has been steadily 

 persevered with at St. Clair, 100 to 200 plants being done 

 each month. The successes have ranged from .36 to 71 

 per cent. The lower yields are attributed mainly to the 

 use of stocks which were rather too old. These plants liave 

 all lieen selected Forastero on Calabacillo stocks. 



Budding has also been successfully carried on during 

 191.") at the Tobago Botanic Station, and two small 

 plots established, one of eighteen plants and the otlier 

 of six, the latter being budded Nicaraguan Criollo. From 

 plants budded in St. Clair in 1914 and early in 191.5, 

 a i-acre plot has been established at St. Augustine. 

 These are said to have made good growth, a photograph 

 exhiliited showing a well developed specimen planted in 

 July 1915, and now about .3| feet high. 



Mr. Freeman points out that although budding of cacao 

 has been accomplished in a good many countri&s, yet there 

 is little if any exact information available from them as to 

 ■whether it is a. desirable method for planters to adopt on an 

 estate scale; but observes that it is an important part of 

 the work of a Department of Agiiculture to attempt to 

 decide definitely (juestions of this character, and even if the 

 results proved that the method was not desirable, it was 

 important as it saved planters wasting money in useless 

 directions. To this end an experiment had been laid out 

 on a larger scale at lliver estate. The general plan and 

 objects of this experiment are described in an article contri- 

 buted by the same author to the BuUetin of the JJepurtinent 

 of Agriculture (Vol. XIII, pp. .320-22, December 1914), 

 ■which is reproduced in the paper under consideration, to 

 which readers are referred for further detail. It might be 

 mentioned, however, that the work of establishing the various 

 plots, and grafting and l)udding, lia«< been accomplished, with 

 the result that Trinidad will very shortly have .3J, acres 

 altogether in budded cacao, and li acres in grafted cacao, 

 and it is hoped that these experiments will afford a dctinite 

 solution of the question as to wliether it is better or not for 

 the jilanter to substitute budding or grafting for the onlinary 

 method of establishing a cacao estate. 



FERMENTATION OF CACAO, COFFEE, 



AND TOBACCO. 



The investigation^ were carried out in the Botanica 

 Garden of Victoria, Kannerun. It was observed that in the 

 ordinary fermentation of cacao an alcoholic fermentation first 

 takes place, followed on the second or third day by an acetic 

 fermentation; the tannic substances of the cacao .seeds are 

 decomposed by atmospheric oxygen, which causes changes 

 in the colour and taste. 



When the cacao fruits are gathered, the seeds are 

 removed, and allowed to ferment, stirring them for from two 

 to ten days. The pul^ covering them undergoes alcoholic 

 fennentation, becoming .soft, and developing a temperature 

 of 40° to .50° C, which kills the seeds. At this point a little 

 of the liquid formed during the fermentation enters the seeds, 

 making them soft, and by means of the acid it contains 

 rentlering them more (■apable of resisting the action of bacteria 

 and moulds during the slicceeding drying period. While the 

 latter progresses, and the water evaporates, the atmospheric 

 oxygen penetiates into the seeds, and, with the help of 

 enzymes, oxydises the astringent substances. Moderate heat 

 promotes oxidation which, on the other hand, does not take 

 place in seeds heated to from 80° to 90° C. 



The amount of tannic substances contained in cacao 

 seeds varied from 464 percent, in a sample treated in the 

 ordinary manner to 3'1 per cent, when the seeds were not 

 allowed to cool during 1;he night. It was still less, 2'44 per 

 cent., when the seeds were not permitted to cool during the 

 night, and were damped in the morning; and least of all, D4 

 per cent., when the seeds were put to ferment in a vessel con- 

 taining oxygen. The market value of the seeds varies in- 

 versely with the amount of tannic substances they contain. 

 In commercial samples the percentages of the latter were: 

 Puerto Cabello 1; Arriba 1-98; Java 2-38; Maracaibo 2-62. 



When the seeds contain over 20 per cent, of moisture 

 butyric fermentation often occurs, and the seeds also become 

 m(juldy. Oxidation takes place more rapidly at temperatures 

 from 50 to 60°C. than at about 50°C. At the latter 

 temperature, however, the colour is more stable. If the 

 oxidation is allowed to proceed too far the caca i loses its 

 aroma. The best tempt.'rature for fermentation is from 35° 

 to 40° C. 



In two series of experiments cacao seeds were moistened 

 till their water content amounted to 18 per cent., and then 

 left to ferment for ditfeffent periods of time and at different 

 temperatures. In a Kamerun cacao, which before fermenta- 

 tion contained 3'64 per cent, of tannic substances, the 

 amount of the latter sank to 3-58 per cent, after twenty-three 

 hours' fermentation at 46' C, and to 2'7S per cent, after fifty- 

 six hours' at 42" C. A St. Thomas cacao gave under 

 .similar conditions 27S, 268, 2'56 per cent., respectively. 



In order to prepare a more delicate product from strong 

 cacaos (such as all those'iof West Africa) it is necessary to en- 

 courage oxidation, by sliujkening or interrupting the drying pro- 

 cess when the moisture in the seeds is reduced to 20 per cent., 

 maintaining at the same time the high temperature. When 

 the drying is eftected in the sun, this is done by placing the 

 seeds in thick layers. In artificial drying, the seeds are 

 collected in great heaps in the drums of the desiccators, the 

 process being carried oti|;-in a warm atmosphere. The drying 

 is only complete when the seeds have acquired the desired 

 brown colour. 



I'Ki! .MENTATION OF ooFi'EK. The experiments were 

 carried out at St. Thomas. The writer removed the greater 



