106 COCOA 



CHAP. 



means of the string without touching it. The pod is 

 then hung up in the room on a little stick, so as 

 to hang absolutely free. When the paraffin layer is 

 solid and cooled, the pod is ready to be packed. 

 The paraffined pods must be packed in a suitable 

 mixture which will not break, bruise or scratch the 

 paraffin layer. Peat-dust or fine, sifted sawdust may 

 be used. 



The author shipped pods treated in this way with 

 success from Surinam to Java, a voyage of about seven 

 weeks ; but it is true that the method is not quite 

 reliable. Sometimes, for instance, gas-bubbles are de- 

 veloped under the paraffin layer, which bursts at these 

 places ; and where a burst occurs, decay generally soon 

 sets in. It is not known under what conditions these 

 gas-bubbles are formed, or what is the cause of their 

 formation. It has only been proved that the fruit-wall 

 must not show the slightest black spot, which indicates 

 the beginning of a too ripe condition, and it is therefore 

 better to pick the pods a week before they are really 

 quite ripe. 



Seed selection. Wherever the local variety of cocoa 

 is to be planted, and especially when a plantation with 

 full-grown trees has to be extended, the planter is 

 in a position to select his seed carefully. As a rule, 

 however, very little attention is paid to this point. 



It should be a golden rule to the planter, to plant 

 only seed from the best bearing, healthiest tree of his 

 own plantation or of the plantations from which his seeds 

 are obtained. The great difficulty, however, is that 

 generally no exact data are available for ascertaining 

 which particular tree is the best. Some trees in a plan- 

 tation may have the reputation of always giving a high 

 yield, but exact, convincing figures are almost always 

 lacking. It is therefore most important for the planter to 

 study carefully in his plantation a certain number of trees 

 which are strong and healthy and which seem to be 

 good bearers, and to note down every year exactly what 

 is the yield of each of these trees, together with any 



