n6 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE CHAP. 



place them in the middle of the lines ; for, if they are too, 

 near the young cacao, their roots do harm, and there is 

 danger of the trees being injured when the bananas are cut, 



Shade trees, or when their stems are thrown down by high winds. For 

 permanent shade, the immortelle tree (Erythrina umbrosa) or 

 the " cacao mother," as it is called, is used in Trinidad ; but 

 bread-fruit, bread-nut, trumpet tree, and guango or saman 



Ravines do trees may be planted. They should not, however, be closer 



not require ^ , . . 



shade trees, to each other than 60 feet, and in narrow mountain ravines, 

 where there is natural shade, they may be dispensed with 

 altogether. In such a ravine, on a cacao plantation in 

 Dominica belonging to the writer of this book, the shade 

 trees had to be cut out, as they kept back the growth of the 

 Exposed plants. In exposed places shelter belts are a necessity ; and 

 be avoided, they should be planted before the cacao. The kind of trees 

 used for these belts may be left to the planter's judgment, 

 care being taken not to select those that impoverish the soil 

 as hardwood trees do and to reject all those with branches 

 so brittle that the winds break them easily, and those that 

 spread their roots close to the surface of the ground. Any 

 fast growing tree obtainable in the neighbourhood of the 

 estate may be employed. 



WEEDING. Of course land under cacao cultivation, as 



under all other cultivations, should be kept clear of weeds ; 



Cutlassing and proper tillage, by improving the soil, will do good to the 



s ' trees. On steep hill sides cutlassing will be sufficient, and 



on level places an occasional hoeing will be required. When 



the trees are grown so that their branches shade the land, 



the weeds will not grow very fast, and, as a rule, they are so 



loosely rooted that they may be easily pulled up. 



Theneces- PRUNING. The cacao planter will have to give careful 



prunhig. attention to the pruning of the trees if he wishes to get large 



crops. As the pods are borne on the larger branches, the 



principle is to develop such branches by judicious pruning, 



and to see that they are not covered up by a mass of foliage 



