BEVERAGE PLANTS 269 



of the woods. The idea of improving the stock 

 by selection, and multiplying varieties by grafting 

 and budding in nurseries, has not yet been put 

 into practice. The cacao industry is waiting for 

 northern scientific minds to work out these prob- 

 lems. 



The most important fact so far discovered by 

 'growers, of the tree is that, though it is almost 

 universal to see the plantations on moist ground, 

 the trees do far better on upland soil. It re- 

 quires care to make the little trees comfortable 

 when first transplanted. They must be watered 

 and shaded by taller plants for a time. 



The native planters learned long ago that pod-, 

 bearing plants are best as "nurse trees" to the 

 cacaos. They did not know why. We know 

 that only the plants of the pod-bearing family 

 gather nitrogen from the air and store it in nodules 

 on the roots. When the tops die, the stored ni- 

 trogen is given to the soil by the slow decay of the 

 roots. So the leguminous nurse trees first protect 

 the cacaos from sun and wind, but afterward they 

 feed them. 



The cacao grows to thirty feet in height, and' 

 reaches the end of its bearing period at about 

 thirty-six years. Four-year-old trees begin to 

 bear. The fruit is a rough, red, " yellow, or brown 



