COCOA-GROWING COUNTRIES 459 



it was commonly assumed that 3 bags (300 kilograms) 

 or more could be considered as an average. Recently, 

 however, 1 figures were obtained of the total acreage 

 of the plantations and the production. 



These figures show that, in the time that the witch- 

 broom disease had not reduced the yield as it has 

 done lately, the yield per acre was a little more than 

 200 kilograms. 



The figures are given below. It must be understood 



O O 



that they refer only to the plantations, and not to the 

 grounds of the small labourers. 



From 1899 the decline of the yield per acre, caused 

 by the witch-broom disease, was very marked, but in 

 the years 1896-1899 the production was also in- 

 fluenced by the disease. In 1904 it was reduced to 

 the very low yield of 33 kilograms per acre ! But 

 all the figures from 1896 up till now must be con- 

 sidered as exceptionally low, and the normal average 



1 Van Hall en Drost, De krullotenziekte der cacaoboomen (Bulletin No. 16 

 of the Department of Agriculture, Surinam], pp. 39, 41 ; and Proceedings of the 

 Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago, December 1909, pp. 46, 49. 



