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Trinidad does not usually require more than two days, though it is 

 always fermented for five; the Forastero aday longer, and the Ame- 

 lonado four or five days. Preuss states that the finest and sweetest 

 cocoa requires twenty-four hours and the bitter kind six to eight 

 days. Fermentation is considered complete when on cutting a 

 seed transversely one notices that the cotyledons have separated 

 and the sugary liquid occupies the spaces within the seed. On 

 drying, the beans may be brown in colour and sweet to the taste 

 or purple and bitter to the taste, the former being the desired 

 characteristics on most European markets. 



PERIODICITY OF THE COCOA TREE. 



It is necessary to consider the periodicity of the vegetative and 

 reproductive system of the cocoa tree before dealing with the 

 subject of its cultivation and the harvesting of the crop. There 

 are reasons for believing that the most successful results in 

 cultivation will probably be obtained by taking advantage of the 

 normal periods of varying activity which characterise the different 

 stages in the life of the tree rather than by the application of 

 methods or substances to stimulate parts of the tree during their 

 periods of minimum activity. 



The cocoa trees on a large area produce leaves, roots, flowers 

 and fruits throughout every month of the year, and many cultivators 

 have adopted methods with the idea of making the trees more pro- 

 ductive at periods of the year which do not agree with those of the 

 natural periodicities. It is possible, by affecting the water supply 

 to the roots and by the pruning of branches and roots, to consider- 

 ably change the periodicity of vegetative and sexual tissues, but 

 it is a course which, if not carried out very carefully, may be 

 accompanied by a serious reduction in the cocoa crop. 



FOLIAR AND ROOT PERIODICITY. 



In all tropical areas heat and light are intense, and these, 

 together with the heavy rainfall of many places, result in a 

 conspicuous growth of vegetation at most times of the year. 

 Though the climatic changes are not analagous to the seasons of 

 a temperate zone, the plants in the tropics are just as subject to 

 periodical changes ot rest and activity as those of cooler zones. 

 The periodicities of the climates in cocoa-growing countries differ 

 considerably, and the remarks here given have reference mainly 

 to the cocoa-trees in the Peradeniya district of Ceylon ; a change 

 in climatic periodicity is usually followed by one of plant 

 periodicity. 



The leaves of the cocoa tree show an increase in number year 

 by year until by about the eighth or tenth year a standard size 

 appears to be attained. Throughout these first years the foliar 

 production is irregular, but as time goes on there is a tendency to 

 produce a large number of new leaves during two or three periods 

 each year. On a cocoa estate with all the trees in bearing it is 



