1922.] CACAO CULTIVATION IN GRENADA. 217 



The question of shade for plants in general is largely a matter of 

 what the plants have been accustomed to. Plants reared under shaded 

 and protected conditions are much more delicate than those reared 

 without and are bound to suffer if such shade or protection is suddenly 

 removed. A.n example of this was provided at the no shade plot at River 

 Estate, where, for a few years after the Immortelles had been removed 

 the crop dropped below its average of former years, till eventually when 

 the trees became accustomed to the new conditions the crops increased. 



"When cacao is grown without shade not only is it necessary to pay 

 more attention to drainage but it is als essential to give better cultural 

 conditions by forking and manuring and this the Grenada planter 

 usually does in a very thorough manner. He endeavours as far as 

 possible to keep a good tilth on his soil and it is doubtful if his efforts 

 in these matters we;e relaxed whether it would be possible to make a 

 paying concern of cacao growing without shade. The actual position in 

 Grenada seems to be that the planter endeavours by forking and 

 manuring to do what the Trinidad planter does largely with shade trees. 

 The Trinidad planter protects his soil from loss of organic matter by the 

 action of the sun and wind and the Grenada planter replaces his loss. 

 The latter is no doubt preferable so long as it can be maintained 

 economically, as in the no shade fields of Grenada little loss from pod 

 rot is to be observed and this fact alone should more than compensate 

 for extra expense and labour. 



It is marvellous to see on certain of ihe exposed seaboards of Grenada 

 in what good condition the trees are niaiutained by cultural measures 

 although the tops of the trees present a close clipped appearance from 

 their exposure to the wind. 



The close planting already referred to, helps of course to a certain 

 extent also to protect the soil froixi exposure to wind and sun. Whether 

 this close planting will have an ultimate detrimental effect on the life of 

 the tree remains to be seen, but it is very probable that it will. 



MANURING. 



As regards manuring, the Grenada planter has been in the habit of 

 treating his plantation fairly generously. Besides chemical manures of 

 which large amounts were till recently regularly supplied, large quantities 

 of pen manure were also either bought from peasants or made on estates. 



A system of making pen manure largely in practice on estates is to 

 picket cattle in various parts of the field, where the}' are fed for a few 

 months and then removed to another place, the heap meanwhile being 

 allowed to rot down till it is in suitable condition for applying to the 

 cacao. Whilst this system has its disadvantages in that all the valuable 

 liquid portion of the manure is lost or only benefits the few trees in the 

 immediate vicinity and the manure heap is unprotected from weather, it 

 has certain advantages, the principal being from the planter's point of 

 view, a saving of labour in carting feed for the stock and bringing the 

 manure back to the cacao. Tliis class of manure is bought from peasants 

 at from one to two cents per cacao basket. A common practice is for 

 the estate labourers to take over the feeding of an animal and be paid for 

 the manure. 



