LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



SIR : I submit herewith an essay on the cultivation of cacao, for the use 

 of planters in the Philippines. This essay is prompted first, because much 

 of the cacao grown here is of such excellent quality as to induce keen 

 rivalry among buyers to procure it at an advance of quite 50 per cent over 

 the common export grades of the Java bean, notwithstanding the failure 

 on the part of the local grower to "process" or cure the product in any 

 way; second, because in parts of Mindanao and Negros, despite ill treat- 

 ment or no treatment, the plant exhibits a luxuriance of growth and 

 wealth of productiveness that demonstrates its entire fitness for those 

 regions and leads us to believe in the successful extension of its propaga- 

 tion throughout these Islands; and lastly because of the repeated calls 

 upon the Chief of the Agricultural Bureau for literature or information 

 bearing upon this important horticultural industry. 



The importance of cacao-growing in the Philippines can hardly be over- 

 estimated. Eecent statistics place the world's demand for cacao (exclu- 

 sive of local consumption) at 200,000,000 pounds, valued at more than 

 $30,000,000 gold. 



There is little danger of overproduction and consequent low prices for 

 very many years to come. So far as known, the areas where cacao pros- 

 pers in the great equatorial zone are small, and the opening and develop- 

 ment of suitable regions has altogether failed to keep pace with the 

 demand. 



The bibliography of cacao is rather limited, and some of the best publi- 

 cations, 1 being in French, are unavailable to many. The leading English 

 treatise, by Professor Hart, 2 admirable in many respects, deals mainly 

 with conditions in Trinidad, West Indies, and is fatally defective, if not 

 misleading, on the all-important question of pruning. 



The life history of the cacao, its botany, chemistry, and statistics are re- 

 plete with interest, and will, perhaps, be treated in a future paper. 

 Respectfully, 



WM. S. LYON, 

 In Charge of Seed and Plant Introduction. 



Hon. F. LAMSON-SCRIBNER, 



Chief of the Insular Bureau of Agriculture. 



1 Le Cacaoyer, par Henri Jumelle. Culture de Cacaoyer dans Guadaloupe par 

 Dr Paul Guerin. 



2 Cacao, by J. H. Hart, F. L. S. Trinidad. 



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