400 COCOA 



CHAP. 



foliage, absence of thorns, and the way in which it 

 stands regular lopping once or twice a year. 



Some other shade trees, however, are also met with 

 on the cocoa estates, especially Albizzia moluccana and 

 Albizzia stipulata, and the rubber species Castilloa 

 elastica and Manihot Glaziovii. 



At the present time the planting of cocoa and 

 Hevea as a mixed cultivation is much in favour, and 

 it is extending, especially in the Matale, Dumbara, 

 Kurunegala, Polgahawela, and Kandy districts. 



This interplanting has often been quite successful, 

 but care must be taken to plant the trees wider apart 

 than is the case when they are planted separately. 

 Wright 1 recommends to plant Hevea as well as cocoa 

 20 feet apart, so as to obtain approximately 100 rubber 

 and 100 cocoa trees per acre. As regards the yield, this 

 same author mentions that Ceylon estates, with Para 

 rubber trees eight to eleven years old planted through 

 slightly older cocoa, are now obtaining a yield of about 

 200 Ibs. of rubber and the same of cocoa per acre 

 per year. 



But few planters are interplanting with Manihot 

 and Castilloa. 



Weeding is done on most estates by contract ; the 

 contract coolies are paid 7 to 12 rupees (9s. to 16s.) per 

 acre per year. Some estates apply green manuring in 

 the young cocoa fields, in order to keep the weeds in 

 check and to improve the soil. For this purpose the 

 following plants have been recommended for Ceylon : 

 different Crotallaria species (C. striata, C. laburnifolia, 

 C. incana), Cajanus indicus, species of Indigofera 

 (/. anil, I. tinctoria, I. hirsuta), etc. 



A fair amount of artificial manure is used on the 

 estates ; but, so far, systematic experiments have only 

 been carried on at Peradeniya in the Botanical Gardens. 

 From these" experiments it may be concluded that good 

 results were obtained from nitrogenous manures ; it is 

 a fact worth mentioning that the best results were 



1 Cocoa, p. 84. 



