CACAO CULTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES. 9 



THE PLANTATION. 



Cacao, relatively to the size of the tree, may be planted very closely. 

 We have stated that it rejoices in a close, moisture-laden atmosphere, and 

 this permits of a closer planting than would be admissible with any other 

 orchard crop. 



In very rich soil the strong-growing Forastero variety may be planted 

 3.7 meters apart each way, or 745 trees to the hectare, and on lighter 

 lands this, or the more dwarf-growing forms of Criollo, may be set as 

 close as 3 meters or rather more than 1,000 trees to the hectare. 



The rows should be very carefully lined out in one direction and staked 

 where the young plants are to be set, and then (a year before the final 

 planting) between each row of cacao a line of temporary shelter plants 

 are to be planted. These should be planted in quincunx order, i. e., at the 

 intersecting point of two lines drawn between the diagonal corners of the 

 square made by four cacaos set equidistant each way. This temporary 

 shelter is indispensable for the protection of the young plantation from 

 wind and sun. 



The almost universal custom is to plant, for temporary shelter, suckers 

 of fruiting bananas, but throughout the Visayas and in Southern Luzon 

 I think abaca could be advantageously substituted. It is true that, as 

 commonly grown, abaca does not make so rank a growth as some of the 

 plantains, but if given the perfect tillage which the cacao plantation 

 should receive, and moderately rich soih, abaca ought to furnish all nec- 

 essary shade. This temporary shade may be maintained till the fourth or 

 fifth year, when it is to be grubbed out and the stalks and stumps, which 

 are rich in nitrogen, may be left to decay upon the ground. At present 

 prices, the four or five crops which nw.y be secured from the temporary 

 shelter plants ought to meet the expenses of the entire plantation until it 

 comes into bearing. 



In the next step, every fourth tree in the fourth or fifth row of cacao 

 may be omitted and its place filled by a permanent shade tree. The plant- 

 ing of shade trees or "madre de cacao" among the cacao has been observed 

 from time immemorial in all countries where the crop is grown, and the 

 primary purpose of the planting has been for shade alone. Observing that 

 these trees were almost invariably of the pulse or legume family, the 

 writer, in the year 1892, raised the question, in the Proceedings of the 

 Southern California Horticultural Society, that the probable benefits de- 

 rived were directly attributable to the abundant fertilizing microorgan- 

 isms developed in the soil by these leguminous plants, rather than the 

 mechancial protection they afforded from the sun's rays. 



To Mr. 0. F. Cook, of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 however, belongs the credit of publishing, in 1901, 1 a resume of his in- 

 quiries into the subject of the shades used for both the coffee and the 



1 " Shade in Coffee Culture." U. S. Dept. Ag., Washington, 1901. 



