26 COCOA 



CHAP. 



It must not be forgotten, however, that the amounts 

 of the different elements contained in the trees and 

 in the crop may vary considerably, according to the 

 soil, the bearing power of the trees and the variety 

 cultivated. Moreover, the figures are of no importance 

 at all in the direction of indicating the kind of manure 

 required for cocoa soils. They could even lead us 

 astray. For instance, the large amount of lime con- 

 tained in the cocoa tree might lead to the conclusion 

 that a satisfactory yield can be obtained only on soils 

 rich in lime, or that the yield can be increased by an 

 application of lime to soils which are poor in calcium. 

 But this is by no means always the case ; in Surinam 

 the soil is poor in lime, but still it gives high yields of 

 cocoa, and manuring with lime, though often tried, has 

 never met with any success. 



The relative weights of the different parts of the 

 fruits were measured by Harrison as follows : 



The absolute weight was not given. 



A few hundred pods of a typical Surinam Amelonado 

 type were weighed by the present writer, and the 

 average was found to be as follows : 



Husk . . . .431 grains = 77 per cent. 

 Seeds with pulp . .128 =23 



Whole fruit . . 559 grams = 100 per cent. 



say 30 fruits. One hectare would therefore produce 16,500 fruits. One fruit 

 contains about 100 grams of seeds (about 25 grams dry substance) and about 400 

 grams husks (about 68 grams dry substance). This amounts to 412^ kilograms of 

 seeds and 1022 kilograms of husks (both dry substance) per hectare. I agree that 

 estimates may differ a little, and Marcano's figure of about 456 kilograms of 

 seeds corresponds fairly well with my figure of 412^ kilograms. But the figure 

 of 653 kilograms of husks is certainly too low, if 456 kilograms of seeds are 

 produced. 



