CACAO CULTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES. 21 



cut and burned in a clearing or wherever it may be done without detri- 

 ment to the standing timber,, and the ashes scattered in the orchard before 

 they have been leached by rains. The remaining essential of phosphoric 

 acid in the form of superphosphates will for some years to come necessa- 

 rily be the subject of direct importation. In the cheap form of phosphate 

 slag it is reported to have been used with great success in both Grenada 

 and British Guiana, and would be well worthy of trial here. 



Lands very rich in humus, as some of our forest valleys are, undoubt- 

 edly carry ample nitrogenous elements of fertility to maintain the trees 

 at a high standard of growth for many years, but provision is indispensa- 

 ble for a regular supply of potash and phosphoric acid as soon as the 

 trees come into heavy bearing. It is to them and not to the nitrogen that 

 we look for the formation of strong, stocky, well-ripened wood capable 

 of fruit bearing and for fruit that shall be sound, highly flavored, and 

 well matured. 



The bearing life of such a tree will surely be healthfully prolonged for 

 many years beyond one constantly driven with highly stimulating foods, 

 and in the end amply repay the grower for the vigilance, toil, and original 

 expenditure of money necessary to maintaining a well-grown and well- 

 appointed cacao plantation. 



SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 



New Varieties. Cacao is exclusively grown from seed, and it is only by 

 careful selection of the most valuable trees that the planter can hope to 

 make the most profitable renewals or additions to his plantations. It is 

 by this means that many excellent sorts are now in cultivation in different 

 regions that have continued to vary from the three original, common 

 forms of Theobroma cacao, until now it is a matter of some difficulty to 

 differentiate them. 



Residence. The conditions for living in the Philippines offer peculiar, 

 it may be said unexampled, advantages to the planter of cacao. The cli- 

 mate as a whole is remarkably salubrious, and sites are to be found nearly 

 everywhere for the estate buildings, sufficiently elevated to obviate the 

 necessity of living near stagnant waters. 



Malarial fevers are relatively few, predacious animals unknown, and 

 insects and reptiles prejudicial to human life or health extraordinarily 

 few in number. In contrast to this we need only call attention to the en- 

 tire Caribbean coast of South America, where the climate and soil condi- 

 tions are such that the cacao comes to a superlative degree of perfection, 

 and yet the limits of its further extension have probably been reached by 

 the insuperable barrier of a climate so insalubrious that the Caucasian's 

 life is one endless conflict with disease, and when not engaged in active 

 combat with some form of malarial poisoning his energies are concen- 

 trated upon battle with the various insect or animal pests that make life 

 a burden in such regions. 



