COCOA-GROWING COUNTRIES 399 



The best of all shade trees for Ceylon is almost certainly the _^ 7 

 dadap, which has the great advantage of growing well from large ' 

 cuttings indeed, the cutting can hardly be too large so that 

 a fair-sized tree can be established by this method in a year or 

 two. At the outset as many dadaps as cacao trees will be 

 required, and these may be planted in the same lines as the cacao 

 plants and alternately with them, so as to admit of a free view 

 down the lines of cacao. As the dadaps grow they should be 

 pruned in such a manner that their branches are kept a few feet 

 above the tops of the cacao plants, and the leaves and twigs 

 removed during this process should be mulched close round the 

 young cacao. As soon as the branches of the dadaps have met 

 above the cacao so as to afford a tolerably close shade, the question 

 of thinning them out must be considered, and at the beginning of 

 the next wet season one in three of the dadaps may be cut down, 

 the leaves being again used for mulching. The process of thinning 

 should be continued year after year, until ultimately the dadaps 

 stand 45 by 45 feet in each direction a condition which may 

 be reached five years after the time of original planting, when the 

 cacao will be just coming into bearing. A young dadap cutting 

 may now be planted in the centre of each square of old dadaps 

 to take the place of the latter when they have outgrown their 

 condition of greatest usefulness in two or three years more. The 

 old trees are then gradually cut down, and the store of organic 

 matter which they represent returned to the soil. In addition to 

 all this, the branches of the dadaps should be lopped periodically 

 at the onset of wet weather if the shade appears to be too 

 heavy. 



All this planting and cutting out of shade trees may appear 

 unduly complicated, but there is no doubt that the proper treat- Sb^ 

 ment of shade is the first essential of success in cultivating cacao eJtc- \ 

 in Ceylon. The use of the dadap ensures a sufficient supply of 

 nitrogen derived from the prunings and loppings constantly 

 returned to the soil, and no further supply of this expensive anid 

 necessary constituent will be required on good land if the 

 recommendations here given are carried out. 



In the beginning, however, plantations were not very 

 particular about shade and contained several species 

 of trees, and while they are now by preference using 

 dadap (Erytlirina lithosperma), the mixed cultivation 

 with Hevea also has become .very popular. Of the 

 Erythrinas, E. lithosperma is preferred to E. umbrosa 

 on account of its more rapid growth, more luxuriant 



