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without shade. He bought an estate and carried out the experiment 

 by cutting down all the shade trees with the result that he had to 

 replant them, as he found it impossible to grow cocoa here without 

 shade. If ever you see a bad patch of cocoa here the planters' 

 explanation is that the trees have not sufficient shade. 



The President : I should like to suggest for the consideration of 

 the Agricultural Society whether during next year they could put an 

 acre of the Criollo variety of cocoa in cultivation. The results might 

 be sufficiently reliable to justify an extension of it later on, or to 

 abandon it altogether. I know Mr. Hart would be willing to join in 

 an experiment of that sort, and it would be useful to the Colony. 



Dr. H. A. A. Nicholls : Mr. Hart has declared, ex cathedra, 

 that cocoa cannot be grown in Trinidad without shade trees. I do 

 nut think the argument used by him fully warrants that declaration, 

 because one can very well understand that cutting down shade trees 

 from among cocoa trees brought up with shade, is very different to 

 growing cocoa trees up to maturity and then cutting down the shade. 

 The proper test as to whether cocoa can best be grown in Trinidad with 

 "i- without shade, is to endeavour to grow cocoa with and without 

 shade right from the seed. I do not think that has been done as yet 

 in Trinidad. 



Professor P. Carmody (Trinidad) : I would like to make a few 

 remarks in connexion with this subject as I have given a little 

 S( ientific attention to the shade tree used in Trinidad. Mr. de Gannes, 

 who is an experienced planter and works his estate himself, will tell 

 you that cocoa cannot be grown in Trinidad without shade. It is 

 natural to assume that when cocoa trees were first jointed here no 

 ^liade was tried, but it was subsecpiently resorted to in consequence 

 of failure. It seems to me unreasonable to suppose that a man would 

 begin to plant Immortel trees before he knew they were required and 

 then plant cocoa. I incline to the opinion of Mr. Howell Jones, that 

 the question of shade or no shade depends upon local circumstances. 

 From analyses of the flowers of the Immortel tree made in 1901, I 

 ascertained that some of them contained as much as G per cent, of 

 nitrogen calculated on the dry flowers. This large percentage natu- 

 rally attracted my attention and further investigation was made 

 which led to a report to the Government. 



Mr. J. G. de Gannes : About forty years ago a gentleman came 

 here and started cocoa cultivation His idea was that we Avere 

 making a mistake in planting shade trees. He planted cocoa, raised 

 with temporary shade, and then cut down the shade. When the 

 shade was removed the cocoa trees stopped growing and he lost 

 everything. 



Dr. Van Hall (Dutch Guiana) : In the question of shade trees 

 Ave are just in the same position as planters are here in Trinidad. 

 There is a general idea that cocoa cannot be grown without shade 

 in Surinam. There is only one estate where it is grown Avithout 

 shade. One thing of great importance with that estate is that it 

 can be irrigated in the dry season. On other estates, where attempts 

 have been made to grow cocoa without shade, the trees generally 

 suffer very much when the dry season comes. In my opinion it is 

 very difficult to grow cocoa Avithout shade in Trinidad ; when grown 



