CACAO 102 



of the cacao tree, a native of Mexico. Its Mexican names is 

 cacanth. 



There are several varieties of the tree, but the one which 

 produces the beverage is cacao theobroma. It is very delicate, 

 and requires great heat and moisture ; it will not flourish 

 beyond 15 north or south of the equator, and not higher 

 than 600 feet above sea-level. It is successfully cultivated in 

 the West Indies (especially in Trinidad), in Ceylon, and in 

 West Africa. When full grown it is about the size of ah apple- 

 tree. 



After the ground has been cleared of forest growth and the 

 soil prepared, the cacao seedlings are planted, and at first, 

 as they require shade, other crops are often grown among 

 them. The young leaves are of a yellowish-brown colour, 

 but later on they change to a bright green ; they are about 

 fourteen inches long. In the third year tiny little flowers 

 appear along the trunk and branches of the tree. These are 

 very delicate and are quickly killed by wind, or cold, or 

 drought. Those which survive, in three or four months 

 produce long pods, red, yellow, purple, or green in colour and 

 from seven to twelve inches long. Inside each of these pods 

 are from thirty-six to forty-two red-skinned beans, clinging 

 round a central fibre, all embedded in a white pulp. 



4 Next morning we are awakened by a blast from a conch. 

 It is 6.30 a.m. and the mist still clings in the valley, the 

 sun will not be over the hills for another hour or more, so 

 in the cool we join the labourers on the mule track to the 

 higher land and for a mile or more follow a stream to the 

 heart of the estate. If it is crop time the men will carry 

 a soulet, a hand of steel mounted on a long bamboo, by the 

 sharp edges of which the pods are cut from the higher branches 

 without injury to the tree. Men and women all carry cutlasses, 

 the one instrument needful for all work on the estate, serving 

 not only for reaping the lower pods, but for pruning and 

 weeding, or cutlassing, as the process of clearing away the 

 weed and brush is called. The pods are collected from 

 beneath the trees and taken to a convenient heap, if possible 

 near by a running stream where the workers can refill their 



