FARMERS' BULLETIN. 



PREPARATION OP THE SOIL. 



When the plantation is made upon forest lands, it is necessary to cut 

 and burn all underbrush, together with all timber trees other than those 

 designed for shade. If such shade trees are left (and the advisability of 

 leaving them will be discussed in the proper place), only those of the 

 pulse or bean family are to be recommended. It should also be remem- 

 bered that, owing in part to the close planting of cacao and in part to 

 the fragility of its wood and its great susceptibility to damage resulting 

 from wounds, subsequent removal of large shade trees from the planta- 

 tion is attended with difficulty and expense, and the planter should leave 

 few shade trees to the hectare. Clearing the land should be done during 

 the dry season, and refuse burned in situ, thereby conserving to the soil 

 the potash salts so essential to the continued well-being of cacao. 



The land should be deeply plowed, and, if possible, subsoiled as well, 

 and then, pending the time of planting the orchard, it may be laid down 

 to corn, cotton, beans, or some forage plant. Preference should be given 

 to "hoed crops," as it is essential to keep the surface in open tilth, as well 

 as to destroy all weeds. 



The common practice in most cacao-growing countries is to simply dig 

 deep holes where the trees are to stand, and to give a light working to the 

 rest of the surface just sufficient to produce the intermediate crops. This 

 custom is permissible only on slopes too steep for the successful opera- 

 tion of a side hill plow, or where from lack of draft animals all cultiva- 

 tion has to be done by hand. 



Cacao roots deeply, and with relatively few superficial feeders, and the 

 deeper the soil is worked the better. 



DRAINAGE. 



The number and size of the drains will depend upon the amount of 

 rainfall, the contour of the land, and the natural absorbent character of 

 the soil. In no case should the ditches be less than 1 meter wide and 60 

 cm. deep, and if loose stones are at hand the sloping sides may be laid 

 with them, which will materially protect them from washing by torrential 

 rains. 



These main drains should all be completed prior to planting. Connect- 

 ing laterals may be opened subsequently, as the necessities of further 

 drainage or future irrigation may demand ; shallow furrows will generally 

 answer for these laterals, and as their obliteration will practically follow 

 every time cultivation is given, their construction may be of the cheapest 

 and most temporary nature. Owing to the necessity of main drainage 

 canals and the needful interplanting of shade plants between the rows of 

 cacao, nothing is gained by laying off the land for planting in what is 

 called "two ways/' and all subsequent working of the orchard will conse- 

 quently be in one direction. 



