JAMAICA 



BXJLTjBTIISr 



(IF THK 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Yol. I. JUNE and JULY, 1903. Parts 6 & 7. 



COCOA II.* 



Notes from ]jr Paul Preuss. 



Shade Trees. 



Tlie two trees which are employed generally in Trinidad to give 

 shade are the " Anauco" {Erythrina Amasisa or E. micropteryx) 

 for the hilly regions, and the "Bucare," [E glauca or E. um- 

 brosa) for the low plains. The two kinds are known by the com- 

 mon designation of " Immortels." Trials have also been made of 

 other trees, as, for example Sand-box {Hura crepitans) and Bread-fruit 

 {Artocarpus incisa) but without great success The Immortels have 

 the property, injurious in shade trees, of shedding their leaves in 

 periods of drought, and of remaining stripped or with only a few leaves 

 during the time of the greatest heat. If, besides this, they draw much 

 moisture from the soil, it is not astonishing that the cocoa trees suffer 

 from drought. 



Shade trees should always be full of leaf at least in countries as dry 

 as Trinidad, or the cocoa trees die immediately in consequence of too 

 great heat and drought. In regions where this is not the case, as for 

 example in the Cameroons where the rain is much more abundant, the 

 fall of the leaves and the strongest exposure to the sun which results, 

 can only act in a salutary manner, for the consequence is that a more 

 abundant flowering is induced. It is the same for coffee and Viuiilla. 

 Mr. Hart recommends as shade trees, the Guango [Pithecolobium 8aman) 

 which ought to be planted 50 to 60 feet apart. Dr. Preuss saw it so 

 employed as a shade tree in Venezuela both for coffee and cocoa ; they 

 were not old, and acted very well, f r their shade is light, and the 

 foliage remains throughout the year ; they grow very quickly and the 

 leaves close up at night, thanks to which the formation of dew during 

 the night is very active. However in a plantation of coffee where the 

 trees had become too old, they visibly overpowered the coffee shrubs, 

 and reduced their yield considerably. The rapid growth and the gi- 

 gantic dimensions of the Guango prevents Dr. Preuss from recom- 

 mending it as a shade tree for plantations. For, if they are given the 

 proper distance from the first, the cocoa trees planted in the interval 

 remain too long without shi^de ; and if they are planted from the com- 



*Continued from Bulletin for April, pages 73-76. 



