August x, 1884.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



89 



THE CACAO DISEASE. 

 The interesting discussion at the meeting of the 

 Planters' Association (p. 90) makes us acquainted with 

 the facts ascertained and the theories which prevail in 

 regard to the disease which recently has assumed a 

 virulent form < u some cacao estates. Apparently we 

 ought to say "some low country estates" for it is 

 strenuously denied that it has affected plants on 

 the older coffee estates at good altitudes. Ou the 

 other hand, Mr. Ross denies its presence on the Matale 

 estates and Mr. Vollar declares that on 1,000 acres of 

 cacao under his charge there are not more than 1,000 

 trees showing signs of disease. He admits that there is 

 an estate in Dumhara badly affected, but with reference 

 to it he says : '' Vou will never get cacao to grow 

 where it is exposed to wind aud the soil on which 

 it stands is poor and shallow." Mr. Jardine, how- 

 ever, said that poverty of soil had not much to do 

 with the disease. The estates chiefly affected seem 

 to be situated between Pobjahawela and Kurunegalaand 

 between the latl r place and Matale, and the blight seems 

 argely referrable to the abnormally droughty season 

 which has prevailed. Should the disease turn out 

 to be largely due to atmospheric causes aud chemical 

 action, without the presence of organic agents, in- 

 sect or fu gd, then the curious results will be 

 established, Um^, while an excessively wet monsoon 

 in 1882 proved injurious to vegetation in the higher 

 mountain districts such as Dimbula, Dikoya, &c, the 

 leaves being spotted and the stems and twigs mortify- 

 ing and dying off, an abnormally dry monsoon proved 

 equally injurious to the chief culture in Iowcountry 

 places in 1884, the effects, especially in the blaeken- 

 iDg and dying-off of twigs, being very much the 

 same. Prom what is already reported there is every 

 hope that the linal result may be also the eame, the 

 recovery of health and vigour by the plants attacked. 

 At one time on Abbotsl'ord, in the monsoon of 1882, 

 it really seemed as if the disease which had begun 

 with the gums and spread to the cinchonas, would 

 destroy not only them but the hardy tea also. 

 The depression of those interested was in proportion 

 Now iu 1884, all the olants affected have shaken off 

 tie disease and under the influence of what at that 

 elevation is a most genhil season, tea is flourishing, 

 beyond all precedent. With the return of normal 

 moisture, we believe it quite likely the Iowcountry 

 cacao cultivators will have a similar tale to tell. We 

 had stroug reason to believe, that, besides the effects 

 of persistent wind and rain, the trees upcountry 

 suffered from the effects of an excess of chloride of 

 sodium, from suit-storms, in fact, and we - submit that 

 Dr. Trimen in his investigations will do well to 

 take special cognizance of the south-west monsoon 

 wind as a bearer of more or less salt spray, sufficient 

 largely to account for the blackening and dying off of 

 branches of the evidently delicate cacao. On the seashore 

 at Colombo, the doctor can see young coconut palms, 

 with their foliage blackened as if, to use Mr. Jardiue's 

 phrase and repeat our own, "a blast of fire had passed 

 over them." In his investigations Dr. Trimen will 

 not forg-t his Ahbutsford experience. Judging from 

 the specimens of twigs aud leaves of gums and cin- 

 chonas sent to him, he went to the estate with the 

 confirmed impression that he would find the insects 

 which had committed the mischief. He failed to find 

 any as completely as we had done, and he decided 

 that neither insect nor fungus had produced the mis- 

 chief, but meteorological conditions. The case of 

 the cacao plants which were euclosed in mosquito cur- 

 tains for a fortnight,, but the twigs of which black- 

 ened, seems to prove conclusively the effect of 

 abnormal weather in producing chemical action in 

 12 



the plant juices and tissues. A gentleman tells us 

 that on examining a blackened branch on an old tree 

 in the Southern Province he founed traces of a borer 

 having entered nearthe stem and gone towards the point. 

 Iu the discussion at Kandy no idea of a borer was 

 suggested, but only of flies so minute as to be invisible 

 or of big juice-suckers too sparse to be loaded with 

 the blame. We are by no means ignorant of the 

 mischief which nocturnal insects can effect without 

 making themselves obvious, aud, of course, when mag- 

 gots are found in the pods, then wc I:notr that in- 

 sects have been at work. But the green fly or bug 

 " Helopeltis Antonii " makes no secret of his presence 

 and can be caught, as we saw in Java, in tens of 

 thousands. As we have mentioned Java, we may again 

 say that in the cacao plantation at Buitenzoorg we saw 

 a large proportion of the pods black with "blight." 

 Dr. Treub used that general term, suggesting neither 

 insect nor fungus, but stating, that, in view of the 

 liability of the red variety of cacao to attacks 

 of this blight, the Government of Java at 

 his instance, had indented for a supply of seeds 

 of cacao alba, that very white variety which is found 

 here in Ceylon to resist the blight. Now, while we 

 know that all over South America, the West Indies 

 and Java cacao is grown under shade, it is our duty 

 to record the fact that the plantation where we saw 

 so many pods black with "blight" waB densely 

 shaded with huge trees of Albizzia moluccana, 

 for which it was claimed that its leaves 

 gave shade from the sun-rays in the daytime and 

 drooped at night so as to permit moisture to get to the 

 ground. That growth under shade is the natural con- 

 dition of the chocolate plant seems placed beyond doubt 

 by what is stated by Mr. D. Morris in bis recent 

 work on Honduras. After showing that cacao of 

 several varieties is indigenous in the forests, Mr. Morris 

 goes on to state : — 



The wild trees in the forest grow under the shade of large 

 overhanging trees in deep soil, and in rather moist situ- 

 ations. That cacao-trees, even under cultivation in the 

 plains, require permanent shade, is very clearly indicated 

 by the circumstances under which the wild trees are 

 found. The cacao-tree never appears to such advantage, 

 or thrives so luxuriantly, as when it occupies a cool, moist 

 situatiou, in deep, well-drained soil; thoroughly sheltered 

 from stroug winds, and with moderate shade above. The 

 Socuuusco cacao, 'grown iu the province of that name on the 

 Pacific, is supposed to be the best cacao known, and little, 

 if any, of it finds its way into foreign markets. This 

 cacao is supposed to have been reserved, from time im- 

 memorial, for the use of the Boyal Court at Mexico : and 

 the drink or beverage prepared from it was highly appre- 

 ciated by the Mexicans, with (whom it was held iu reli- 

 gious veneration. As the trees have the same habit and 

 characteristics as those of Caracas cacao, derived from the 

 class Cacao criolla, the trees in British Honduras will, 

 no doubt, be found to be the yellow-fruited variety of 

 that highly esteemed plant. In Forastero cacao (the class 

 of cacao chiefly under cultivation inTrinidad aud Grenada), 

 the yellow varieties are supposed to yield finer and better 

 cacao than the red ; and if these characteristics obtain in 

 the Cacao criollo class, than we have in the Tabasco or 

 Socuuusco cacao of Central America, which, as shown 

 above' is also a native of British Honduras, the fiuest 

 quality of cacao which can be grown. 

 Mr. Vollar, who has charge of the largest extent of 

 cacao cultivation, we suppose, in Ceylon, is strong in 

 favour of wind-brakes for Bhelter and jak trees for 

 shade, and he went so far as to say that the only 

 traces, small as they were, of disease on the cultiv- 

 ation under his charge was where the shade of the 

 jak ended. Nevertheless, we lean to the opinion, 

 that, if rich soil iu a well-sheltered situatiou could 

 be found, cacao would do well without shade. The 

 balance of testimony is in favor of shade, hut N. B. 

 that the shade used is generally an Erythr'ma, 



ijie ioli&ge of which is never dense, and which is 



