646 MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS 



or inability to maintain the plantations in a clean and 

 healthy condition, thereby threatening the whole industry 

 with disaster." 



To understand the position fully it is necessary to 

 know that the cocoa industry is entirely a native or 

 peasant one; that it is impossible to give the acreage at 

 present under this crop, as the farms are small, varying 

 from a few trees to at the most fifteen acres, and, to add 

 to the difficulty, many farms are hidden away in the 

 " bush." The farms are made by cutting and burning 

 the original forest or by clearing the "bush" from 

 between wild oil palms. Seed is sown, and the land may 

 be intercropped with food crops, such as yams, tannias, 

 and cassava, or, unfortunately, the "bush" may be 

 allowed to grow again almost, if not entirely, uncon- 

 trolled until such time as a stray cocoa flower may be 

 found upon a plant severely handicapped for existence in 

 its infancy. Seed is sown much too thickly, varying from 

 4 ft. by 4 ft. to 12 ft. by 12 ft., which latter distance is the 

 best, save in few instances where an exceptionally good 

 patch of soil is found. This neglect of the trees in the 

 early stages is the cause of the greatest loss due to what is 

 known in the vernacular as " Akate " or " Sankonuabe," 

 i.e., to the ravages of two species of capsid bugs, 

 Sahlbergella singularis, Hogl., and Sahlbergella theo- 

 broma, Dist. 



The life-histories of these two bugs are not yet com- 

 pletely worked out, but appear to be briefly as follows : 

 The cylindrical, pearly-white eggs are laid for the most 

 part singly, embedded in the woody tissues of branches 

 ranging from J to i| in. in diameter. They are ~- Q in. in 

 length, and it is difficult to locate them, as only two short 

 white hairs project into the air. Incubation occupies from 

 fourteen to twenty-one days. Feeding is done during the 

 evening, night, and early morning, and ceases as soon as 

 the sun becomes hot, though during dull and wet days it 

 may continue throughout the greater part of the day. The 

 insects remain almost motionless during the day and are 

 not easily detected, being much the same colour as the 

 bark. They are often in groups on the under sides of 

 the branches, but isolated specimens may be seen in leaf 



