THE CULTIVATION OF COCOA 105 



cocoa-growing world is work which should be done by 

 Experiment Stations and Botanic Gardens rather than 

 by the individual planter. 



Whatever type be finally chosen for the plantation, 

 it is always advisable to plant only one variety. A 

 mixture of different varieties is very troublesome, not 

 only in the cultivation, which should be as far as possible 

 uniform, but also in the curing of the product, as different 

 varieties require different methods of curing. Preuss l 

 is therefore quite right in saying that the system of 

 those planters is wrong, who, unable to decide between 

 Forastero and Criollo, think that the safest way is to 

 plant both. 



A few remarks may be made about the best way of 

 procuring varieties from distant countries. The well- 

 known method of sending young plants in Wardian 

 cases may be considered as the safest, provided that 

 some care is taken of the plants during the voyage ; 

 but this method is expensive. If the ripe pods are sent 

 without any further preparation, they only keep for a 

 very short voyage, and soon become mouldy ; but if 

 treated by the paraffin method they will often keep for 

 a long time. 



The way in which the present writer applied this 

 method was as follows : The ripe pods were first 

 thoroughly cleaned with a tooth-brush and soap. Then 

 they were dipped, by means of a little string attached to 

 the stalk, in a 0'5 per cent alcoholic solution of corrosive 

 sublimate (5 grams of sublimate in 1 litre of alcohol). 

 In this solution they remained for three minutes. Then 

 they were left hanging till the alcohol had evaporated 

 and the fruits were completely dry ; and, finally, they 

 were dipped into liquid paraffin at a temperature of 

 60 to 80 C. (140 to 175 Fahrenheit); for this 

 purpose a paraffin of a high melting-point was used. 

 The pod remained in the paraffin only for one second. 

 Care must be taken to dip the pod, including the stalk- 

 end, entirely in the paraffin, and to hold it only by 



1 Preuss, Samoa, pp. 45-46. 



