160 COCOA 



CHAP. 



he runs the risk that at some particular time enough 

 labourers may not be at hand to keep the fields clean, 

 and the weeds may be able to make seeds and to spread 

 over the fields. 



As has already been said, where the slope of the 

 laud is steep, weeds may help to prevent the soil 

 being washed away, and "clean weeding" is not to be 

 recommended. In such cases it is advisable, after 

 weeding, to arrange the weeds in rows which run per- 

 pendicularly to the slope. The showers always carry a 

 certain amount of soil with them, and this will then 

 be retained by the rows of weeds. A simple kind of 

 terracing is thus obtained. 



If the most common system of weeding is followed 

 and the weeds are cut down one, two, or three times a 

 year, it is best to have the weeds spread equally all 

 over the soil, so that the latter may obtain the greatest 

 benefit from the mulching. In several countries, how- 

 ever, it is considered preferable to have the weeds 

 brought together into heaps or rows, as the work of 

 weeding can in this way be better controlled, for it 

 can then be easily seen whether the work is being 

 done thoroughly or not. 



Soil management. While on every established 

 plantation in every cocoa-growing country .of the world 

 weeding is considered one of the essential operations, till- 

 age and soil management are not seldom wholly neglected 

 and regarded as superfluous. It is in many cases found 

 not only that big yields are obtained and that the 

 trees thrive without tillage, but also that on many soils 

 no improvement is noticeable when tillage is applied. 

 There are, however, exceptions. On heavy, compact clay 

 soils, though the trees grow and bear very well without 

 tillage, forking or hoeing is beneficial. This is especially 

 the case when the trees have, from some cause or other, 

 gone backward ; in such cases the trees show the good 

 effect by the quick formation of a new foliage system, 

 and of long and strong new twigs with large leaves. 



It is not necessary here to go into details as to 



