THE COCOA TREE AND ITS FRUIT. 15 



also rub down the bark with coarse cloths to destroy the adhering 

 parasites. 



"The enemies of the cacao tree are the ardillas, the monkeys, 

 many species of small birds which attack the pod, and various para- 

 sites, all but two of which are as yet unclassified. These two are 

 the ' mosquilla' and ' mancha.' Continued vigilance protects the fruit 

 from the parrots, animals, etc., but little has been done to extirpate 

 the parasites of the trunk. 



" In the sixth or seventh year, the tree commences to bear, but the 

 pods at this time are very small and scarcely repay the effort to gather 

 them. In the tenth year, the tree reaches full maturity. It then pro- 

 duces on an average i pound of dry cocoa of good quality. There 

 are many trees which produce more, especially those which are isolated, 

 some of which have yielded at one picking as much as 7 or 8 pounds. 

 In the province of Oro (Machala), iy 2 to 2 pounds per tree is the esti- 

 mated yield. The tree is in bloom during the entire year, but most of 

 the blossoms fall before fructification, which occurs twice a year, the 

 time varying with the locality. 



"The cacao tree grows to a height of 20 or 30 feet; its leaves are 

 evergreen and lanceolated in form ; the base of the main trunk attains 

 a thickness of 8 to i.o inches ; the bark is hard and of greenish coffee 

 color. The blossom is very small, pinkish white, and waxlike in 

 appearance. It grows directly out of the main trunk and branches. 

 If it fructifies, the petals fall off, and from the stamens, in the course 

 of from fifty to seventy days, an oblong pod is developed. This pod 

 is of golden color, and contains some twenty to thirty-five grains of 

 cacao, enveloped in a gummy liquid, which coagulates on exposure to 

 air. The outer rind of this pod is dark or golden yellow in color and 

 -very hard, a sharp instrument being necessary to cut it open. Its size 

 varies, according to the kind of cacao, from 8 to 15 inches long by 

 from 2 to 6 inches thick. The outer rind is marked by longitudinal 

 furrows, more or less pronounced, which indicate the interior arrange- 



