THE CACAO BEAN. 79 



to be essential for pollination. Many insects are doubtless 

 instrumental in this connection. 



Five or six months usually elapse between flowering 

 and fruiting. The first flowers are not allowed to produce 

 pods, as this exhausts the tree. 



The average number of pods which a healthy cacao 

 tree matures per year is approximately seventy, so that 

 only about 1 per cent, of the flowers yields mature 

 fruit. 



The beans are found in the pods in five longitudinal 

 rows ; ten beans may be traced in each row, but rarely 

 more than 45 properly developed beans are found. 



During the last months of ripening, squirrels, monkeys, 

 rats; deer, and birds will frequently harass the beans, 

 but if snakes abound, as they usually do in the cacao 

 regions, they will destroy and prevent more of these 

 depredators than a hunter's gun. 



Cacao produces when about four years old. From the 

 twelfth to the sixteenth year it is at full maturity. The 

 cacao-tree bears nearly all the year round after it has 

 reached the age of five years, but only two harvests 

 are, as a rule, made. The crop varies from 1 to 7 Ibs. 

 per tree, and as much as 4 cwts. per acre. Eleven pods 

 produce about a pound of cured beans, each pod con- 

 taining from 36 to 42 beans on a fully mature tree. 



The fruit is yellow and red on the side nearest the sun, 

 the rind thick, the pulp sweet, the seeds numerous, and 

 covered with a thin brown skin or shell. 



The native cacao-grower too frequently collects the 

 pods at a time when he can gather the maximum quantity, 

 and often, in consequence, takes over-ripe and under- 

 ripe fruit. He also is inclined to pull off the pods, often 



