198 



COCOA 



CHAP. 



be everywhere a tendency to consider as exceptions 

 those fields which give a low production, and to regard 

 the better fields as the examples from which the average 

 yield is to be deduced. The only way, therefore, to 

 obtain a true average yield is to take the total acreage 

 of all the plantations of one country, and the total 

 production of the country throughout a number of 

 consecutive years. If the same thing could be done for 

 the small proprietors, their average production per acre 

 could also be arrived at ; but unfortunately it is gener- 

 ally impossible to obtain reliable data as to the areas 

 cultivated with cocoa by the small proprietors. 



In the case of Surinam the exact amount of yield 

 per acre from the plantations has been figured out. 1 

 For our purpose only the figures from 1893 to 1899 

 are important, as after the latter year the witch-broom 

 disease began to show its effect in greatly diminished 

 yields. 



tf rroba 



These seven average figures for the years 1893 to 

 1899 give again a general average of 212 kilograms 

 (471 Ibs.) per Surinam acre, which means about 444 Ibs. 

 per English acre. - 3*O4kJ/*s f+r /?e.c/ar^(33.t arro 



Some figures as to yield in Ceylon are available, 

 though there the investigations have not been so 

 extensive. The yields per acre in certain plantations 



1 Van Hall and Drost, "The Witch-Broom Disease of Cacao " (Proceedings 

 of the Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago, December 1909, p. 46). 



