COCOA-GROWING COUNTRIES 449 



of the Department of Agriculture to induce the small 

 proprietors to plant not only plantains, but alternately 

 a row of plantains and a row of bananas. When the 

 former begin to decline, sometimes suddenly, and the 

 shade trees are not yet big enough, the bananas are 

 still there to protect the young cocoa. 



For this purpose the banana already mentioned, 

 namely, the " Gros Michel" or "Jamaica banana," is 

 the most suitable on sandy soils ; the easiest grower 



FIG. 133. A cocoa field belonging to a small proprietor. 

 The cocoa stands without sufficient shade. 



on clay soils, however, is the so-called "apple banana" 

 (called " fig banana " in the West Indian Islands). 



The planters do not use any other plants for tem- 

 porary shade than the plantain and the banana, the 

 small labourer, however, using not only these two, 

 but also cassava and tanias. This, combined with the 

 fact that these people often plant the bananas and 

 plantains too closely, results not seldom in a too dense 

 shade which makes the cocoa grow up in spindling 

 form. 



2G 



