358 COCOA 



CHAP. 



sufficient number of cattle or sheep, or both, possible 

 and not expensive ; and (3) the absence of heavy winds. 

 Where these conditions are prevalent, the growing of 

 cocoa without shade trees must, as far as I can see, 

 always be possible. 



All the Grenada cocoa plantations have a good 

 number of animals to provide for pen-manure. In 

 fact, as in Ecuador, where they are needed for transport 

 purposes, so in Grenada, where they are needed for 

 manuring purposes, the stock is regarded as an in- 

 dispensable part of the working capital. The stock 

 needs food, and so of each plantation one-fifth part is 

 kept in pasture lands and fields of fodder plants, while 

 four-fifths are planted with cocoa. 



In order to avoid as much as possible loss of manure, 

 the animals are kept in a pen, in which they stay nearly 

 all the time that they are not in use. In this way the 

 excrement is easily collected. 



A practical method was long ago adopted by the 

 owner of plantation Good Hope, who regularly covered 

 the ground of the pen with cut bush and litter and 

 spread at intervals a layer of mould over it and re- 

 covered it with litter. He obtained in this way after a 

 few months a thick layer of excellent manure. 



When young, the trees need shade in Grenada as 

 well as everywhere else. For this purpose bananas are 

 mostly used, which are left standing during three or 

 four years, after which they are removed. However, 

 cassavas, yams, tanias, and other crops, even canes, 

 are often also planted between the young cocoa trees, 

 especially in the first and second years. 



As mentioned, the planting distance is close in 

 Grenada not wider than 9 to 12 feet. In this way 

 the soil is rather well shaded by the cocoa trees them- 

 selves when the temporary shade is removed after some 

 three or four years. 



The importance of this close planting must not be 

 overlooked. It must be considered as one of the 

 necessary measures for successfully growing cocoa with- 



