

THE CULTIVATION QF eoCO >h$i 



Toona, Myristica laurifolia, Azadirachta indica, 

 Thespesia populnea, Acacia Cyclops, Schinus tere- 

 binthifolius, Caesalpinia sapan. 



Drainage. The labour to be expended on the 

 drainage of the plantation varies much in different 

 countries. Where the rainfall is comparatively small 

 and the land sufficiently inclined to allow the surplus 

 water to run away, no drains have to be put in. This 

 seems, for instance, to be the case in San Thome. In 

 other countries where the rainfall is greater, as for 

 instance Trinidad and Ceylon, and the natural drainage 

 insufficient, attention has to be paid to the digging of 

 small trenches. Finally, in countries such as Surinam, 

 with a heavy rainfall and flat land, a whole system of 

 canals and trenches has to be dug in order to obtain a 

 proper drainage of the soil. 



It is always advisable to put in the drainage at the 

 same time as the planting of the catch-crop ; and where 

 drainage is essential to the growth of all plants (as is 

 the case in Guiana), this is not only advisable but 

 necessary. In many instances the slow digging of the 

 drainage has resulted in a slow growth of the catch- 

 crop, the spoiling of the virgin soil, and a poor growth 

 of the young cocoa. 



In comparison with other crops such as sugar- 

 cane, cassava, bananas, citron trees and coffee cocoa 

 may be considered as a plant which is not very parti- 

 cular about drainage. All the same it feels the bad 

 effects of a too high water-level, and wherever the 

 natural drainage of the soil is deficient, it is useful to 

 keep the water down to a depth of at least 2 to 3 feet. 

 This, however, is not always done by cocoa planters, 

 and it must be confessed that cocoa often thrives well 

 on lands which are not properly drained and which are 

 soaked with water for several months in the year. The 

 fields of many small proprietors in Surinam offer an 

 example of this, and according to Wright the same 

 condition is observed in Ceylon, where on many estates 

 drainage is neglected to a remarkable degree, while the 



