76 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



localities permanent shade has been used with success. For 

 this purpose kapok, castilloa, hevea, coffee, etc., have served 

 excellently well. The idea underlying this interplanting of 

 cacao with other trees is to arrange the plantation in such a 

 manner that at full growth the cacao will utilize all the space. 

 The cacao beans are planted either in nurseries or directly in 

 place in the field. The advantages are rather in favor of plant- 

 ing in nurseries and in transplanting the seedlings for the rea- 

 son that the young trees are more easily cared for during their 

 first year of growth when^close together in a well protected 

 nursery than when planted at the usual spacing in the open 

 field. Budwood of superior varieties may be used for top- 

 working old trees or inarching may be practiced with good 

 success. These methods, however, have not come into use on 

 commercial plantations. In a few instances grafted trees have 

 borne as high as 30 pods each 2^ years after grafting. The 

 permanent shade trees which are most commonly used for 

 cacao are leguminous. Cacao is grown, however, without 

 shade in Brazil, Grenada, St. Thomas, and several other locali- 

 ties. If, however, leguminous shade trees are not used good 

 tillage is required, otherwise profitable yields may not be ob- 

 tained. Little systematic work has been done with fertilizers 

 in the growth of cacao trees. In Dominica the best yields have 

 been obtained from the use of mulch of leaves and grass. In 

 pruning cacao, it has been found best to remove all suckers 

 and diseased branches. In a few instances one sucker has 

 been left near the base of the trunk, but this has proved to be 

 a wrong practice. The removal and burning of dead branches, 

 twigs, and diseased pods help greatly to prevent the spread of 

 cacao diseases. 



Pods when ripe are removed with a knife or hook, leaving 

 a clean wound. The pods are then gathered and opened the 

 same day or within three days at the outside. The contents 

 of the pods are removed at once to the fermentation house. 

 The cacao tree begins to bear at 3 or 4 years of age, and 



