320 COCOA 



CHAP. 



the plant -holes are partly tilled with manure. This 

 is done on all estates in San Thome, and is considered 

 indispensable. In such a plant-hole the young cocoa 

 plant grows quickly : in the third year it flowers, and 

 in the sixth it gives a good crop, sometimes even earlier. 



As manure for the plant-holes are used : 



First. The refuse of fruit and vegetables from the 

 kitchens of the plantation, weeds, and what remains 

 after the sorting of the cocoa and coffee. This is all 

 collected in a definite place on the estate and forms a 

 good compost. 



Second. Pen-manure, which is chiefly collected from 

 oxen and mules, but it is often badly protected from the 

 rains, and much of the fertilising substances are lost. 



Third. Humus. When the soil is not fertile, at least 

 one cubic metre of earth is removed from the plant- 

 hole and replaced by the humus, which is taken from 

 the surface of the soil, or sometimes brought a great 

 distance from the banks of the river. 



Fourth. Ashes from wood, which is burnt in 

 large quantities in the drying houses. 



Fifth. Cocoa husks. These are never thrown 

 away, not even on the native plantations. They are 

 brought near the foot of the trees or put into the plant- 

 holes. The husks are sometimes burnt before being 

 buried, as when buried in the green state they often 

 attract the troublesome white ants. 



While the plant-holes are dug in the dry season the 

 sowing is done at the beginning of the wet season, in 

 October or November. Some care is spent on the 

 selection of the seed. At the estate of Monte Eosa the 

 pods are taken from full-grown, healthy, and very 

 productive trees ; only the best seeds are used from 

 the middle of the pod. These seeds are at once sown 

 in rich soil in a nursery, or in the newly filled plant- 

 holes if they are planted at stake, which is generally 

 done in San Thome. 



Some planters sow but three seeds in one plant-hole 



