PROBABLE LIFE OF A TREE 37 



cropping taking place, except on poor soil. Young 

 trees commence to flower at three years old, but 

 pods do not form until about the fifth year. From 

 that time, until about the tenth year, a large num- 

 ber of the pods shrivel, and soon after fertilisation 

 they die. In view of this habit the flowering of 

 the trees may be allowed, but if pods form and 

 develop too early they should be removed. It is 

 not wise to rub off the flowers of even young Cocoa 

 trees, as they always occur in indefinite bunches, 

 and an injury to the point of the bunch would 

 result. A good head of foliage with large leaves 

 should be aimed at, and no tree should be allowed 

 to bear a crop unless it possesses these. The 

 quantity of fruit it can ripen without impairing 

 its health depends upon the amount of foliage 

 it carries. Cocoa is a very long-lived tree and has 

 been cultivated in the West Indies for a sufficient 

 time to prove its life as a remunerative crop to be 

 over a century. Sir Daniel Morris writing in 

 1882 says :- 



In their sixth and ninth years the Cocoa trees should be 

 in fair bearing, but they seldom reach their prime before 

 their twelfth or fifteenth year. After this period, where the 

 trees have been carefully established and well cultivated, a 

 Cocoa estate is a comparatively permanent investment, and 



