I62 



In July last, in St. Catherine, I inspected about 20 cocoa trees — 

 old trees, about 12 feet high; only three of the trees had their 

 bases showing level with the surrounding ground ; and although 

 this is the season when we do not expect to see many cocoa pods 

 on the trees, one tree had 60 pods, the other two had from 40 

 to 50 pods each, while the rest of the 17 trees had not 60 pods 

 between them. 



Within the last few months I have been paying a good deal of 

 attention to the question of shade for cocoa, but I have found that 

 in all cases, if the cocoa tree has been properly planted that the 

 trees gave good returns whether they were shaded or not ; but 

 where the tree had been planted too deeply, whether shaded or 

 not, the condition of the tree and the yield were not satisfactory. 



In planting out hard wooded plants, intelligent workmen should 

 be employed, and it should be strongly impressed upon the work- 

 men which the base of the plant is and that when the soil has fi- 

 nally settled down, the base of the plant should be level with the 

 surrounding ground. 



I observe that when the workmen are going to plant out seed or 

 young plants of cocoa after the soil has been cultivated, that they 

 are careful to make a kind of shallow basin, and when it comes 

 to planting the seeds or plants are placed from two to six 

 inches deep. This way of planting is wrong, and is responsi- 

 ble for such a large percentage of plants not giving satisfactory 

 results. 



The way to prevent the plant from settling down too low after 

 planting is to leave the cultivated soil six inches higher than the 

 surrounding ground where the plant or seeds are to be planted. 



As a rule if seeds are being planted, there is not so much risk 

 in putting them too deeply ; but even with seeds, after the soil has 

 been made somewhat fine, pare should be taken to see that they 

 are not planted more than an inch under the ground. I find that 

 it is when seedlings are planted out, that the greatest loss takes 

 place. 



When transplanting the young cocoa plant from the bamboo 

 pots or beds, care should be taken to take off a little of the sur- 

 face soil till the base of the young plant is reached, and after 

 this is found, make a small hole in the raised soil and put the 

 young plant in the soil ; just deep enough for the base of the 

 plant to be on a level with the raised soil. It is better to place 

 the young plant an inch too high than half an inch too low. ^woaAHj 



This may seem a small matter to some people, but I have looked 

 into the subject minutely, and to say that one-fourth of the young 

 plants planted out each year die, and that from the fruiting trees 

 we are not getting as much cocoa as we should by 40 per cent, 

 through the trees being planted too deeply, is making a very low 

 estimate of losses. 



This deep planting of such plants as cocoa and oranges is a 

 most serious matter for the planter. 



If all small, stunted cocoa trees, such as make a little growth in 

 the dry weather and die back in a wet season are examined, it will 



