264 Mr. James Epps, Jun., on 
were not slow to appreciate its excellent qualities, and soon 
introduced it into Spain. For years no other nation but the 
Spanish had any hand in the cultivation ; they appear thoroughly 
to have understood it and appreciated its virtues. Sir Hans 
Sloane remarks that when the Spanish went first to Mexico 
cacao-nuts went for current money. When Cortez sent to 
Charles V. the principal products of the New World, he did not 
omit cacao as the most healthy of the beverages which Spain 
obtained by its conquests. 
It was probably more than a century after the introduction 
into Europe before the English became acquainted with it. The 
first mention we have of cocoa in England is an advertisement 
in the ‘Public Advertiser’ of Tuesday, June 16th, 1657. This 
notice reads :—‘‘ In Bishopsgate Street, Queen’s Head Alley, at 
a Frenchman’s house, an excellent West Indian drink called 
chocolate is to be sold, where you may have it at any time, and 
also unmade, at reasonable rates.” 
In the time of Charles II. (1660) the beverage was much 
esteemed, and a book published at that time by Dr. Stubbes 
attributes many virtues toit. The book also gives us an insight 
into the price of the commodity at that time, for the readers of 
the ‘Indian Nectar, or a Discourse concerning Chocolata,’ are 
invited to buy their cocoa from one, Mortimer, who lived in 
Smithfield, and sold the best kind at 6s. 8d. per lb., and common 
sorts half that price. 
The drink became exceedingly popular in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, and the sign of the ‘Cocoa Tree’ was seen everywhere. 
The high price charged was against it, however, and it was soon 
outstripped by both tea and coffee. 
The cacao, or cocoa of commerce, is the seed of a small ever- 
green tree—the Theobroma Cacao. The name was conferred 
upon it by Linneus, from the Greek words “Theos,” god, 
and ‘*Broma,’’ food—or food of the gods—and belongs to the 
order Sterculiacere; it grows from twelve to twenty-five feet in 
height. 
An ideal spot on which to found a cacao plantation is a well- 
sheltered vale running up to an elevation of not more than one 
thousand feet; the soil should be one possessing requisite depth 
of surface soil, and one moderately rich, consisting of loose clay, 
or clay with an admixture of a fair proportion of sand and lime, 
and one thing absolutely necessary for the well-being of the 
cacao tree is shade. 
When planting an estate the first thing to be done is to cut 
down the brushwood and clear the ground, and when this has 
been done holes at regular distances are made, into which are 
dropped the ripe seeds ; or young plants, raised in nurseries, are 
brought out and carefully planted. This operation requires the 
