1922.'] CACAO CULTIVATION IN GRENADA. 223 



YIELD. 



As to the comparison in crop between the two islands I have no very 

 definite information, but should say that as a rough average we might 

 assume Trinidad to be 3 to 4 bags per acre and Grenada 4 to 5 the 

 Trinidad bags being 165 lb. net and the Grenada 180 lb. 



Van Hall savs in his book on cacao that on a well-managed plantation 

 in'Grenada 350 kilogrammes (approximately 4 bags) per acre were 

 obtained, whilst he gives three instances of Trinidad in which 230 kilos 

 (about 3 bags), 135 kilos, (1^ bags) and 112 kilos, (about 1^ bags) were 

 obtained. 



I should not leave this subject without reference to the somewhat 

 famous estate of Good Hope, where it is on record that the late 

 Eev. G. W. Branch by intensive cultivation reaped as many as 87 bags per 

 annum from 12 acres, or over 7 bags per acre. His methods of 

 cultivation by which he achieved such results can be judged from his 

 reply to a question once asked him by Mr. G. Whitfield Smith as 

 to whether he intended extending his cultivation. It is published 

 in Vol. 1 of the West Indian Bulletin. He said, "No.; the remaining 

 portion of my land is too much swept by prevailing winds to be 

 of any value for cacao; besides I find that it pays me better to 

 keep a portion in cane cultivation or some other fodder, not from 

 the profit to be derived from sugar, but because it enables me 

 to feed my stock ; without this I could get no manure, and 

 without manure I could get no cacao. I look upon my stock, 

 therefore, as part of my working capital. People here seem entirely 

 to forget this. I very often hear them speaking of the hard 

 work they are having to get their plantation ' covered in ' as they call 

 it, but if they knew what I know, they would find it more to their 

 interest to keep one-fifth of their plantation in pasture lands and fields 

 of fodder plants, and to keep several head of stock to fertilise the other 

 four-fifths." 



GENERAL. 



One word in conclusion as to the official agricultural activities in the 

 island. The agricultural officers resident in the island are always at the 

 service of planters and peasants for advice and demonstration in all 

 matters connected with agriculture. A stock of spraying materials and 

 apparatus is kept at the Botanic Gardens for sale and hire to planters or 

 for loan and gift to needy peasants and this stock is fully made use of 

 by both classes of the community. 



There are also the officers of the Imperial Department of Agriculture 

 who pay occasional visits to the island and have by demonstrition and 

 valuable reports done much to assist the agriculturist. 



