THE CULTIVATION OF COCOA 181 



Here the superiority of sulphate of ammonia over 

 nitrate of soda seems well demonstrated, and the 

 application of sulphate of potash appears to result in 

 an important increase of the crop. The effect of the 

 basic slag, however, is uncertain, owing to the absence 

 of control plots. 



Finally, it may be mentioned that in Ceylon, 

 according to Wright, 1 good results have been obtained 

 by the application of 250 kilograms of basic slag and 

 100 kilograms of sulphate of ammonia per acre. 



Pruning and cleaning the trees. The object of 

 pruning any kind of tree whether it be a European 

 fruit tree or a cocoa tree or a coffee tree is first of 

 all to induce the tree to use its force as much as 

 possible for the production of fruit, and to obtain the 

 most advantageous form and proportion of the foliage 

 system for this purpose. In other words, pruning aims 

 at modifying the growth of the tree by reducing the 

 amount of branches and leaves, and by giving the tree 

 a more regular form in order to obtain a higher yield. 



In pruning, therefore, the removal of all useless 

 branches is first of all necessary ; and then it has 

 to be considered whether by reducing the number of 

 branches the remaining ones will be so strengthened 

 as to produce more fruit than when all the branches 

 are allowed to remain on the tree. On this point 

 opinions are very different. On one side we have those 

 who advocate the removal every year of a good number 

 of twigs ; on the other side we have the " anti-pruners," 

 who are convinced that the highest yield will be ob- 

 tained when nothing is removed but the dead twigs 

 and the superfluous watersuckers. This controversy 

 is not surprising, for, apart from the differences in the 

 varieties of cocoa cultivated, the composition of the 

 soil varies greatly on different estates ; while on one 

 soil the trees grow luxuriantly and have more branches 

 and leaves than are necessary in proportion to the 

 quantity of fruit which it is able to produce, on another 



1 Wright, Cocoa, p. 183. 



