462 COCOA 



It must Dot be overlooked that the cocoa fields on 

 the plantations in Surinam are shut off from the 

 surrounding forests by the main drainage trenches 

 which surround the plantation, and only by means of 

 the few bridges or timbers access is obtained to the 

 fields. When the planter therefore takes care to have 

 no nests in his own fields, he is seldom troubled by 

 parasol ants. 



Young plants just unfolding the first few leaves 

 above the cotyledons are often badly damaged by mole- 

 crickets (Scapteriscus). These insects cut the young 

 stem just above the soil ; and it happens sometimes 

 that of a whole field not a single plant is left standing. 

 These insects (called " coti-coti " in negro English, 

 which means " cut-cut ") are very common, and their 

 presence makes it always necessary to keep a nursery. 

 For it is easier to keep them away from the nursery 

 than from the fields, and when the plants have once 

 attained a certain height they can be transplanted into 

 the field without fear, for large plants are no longer 

 attacked by the " coti-coti." 



Of larger animals only the deer may be mentioned. 

 These are sometimes troublesome, damaging the bark 

 of old trees with their horns. 



Among the fungus diseases may be 'mentioned the 

 witch-broom disease (Figs. 84-86), the canker (Fig. 

 80), the die-back disease (Fig. 81), and the blackening 

 of pods. These diseases have already been described 

 in Chapter VIII., but a few words may be added 

 here. 



Towards the end of the last century the cocoa 

 culture was gradually becoming more important in 

 Surinam. Every year the acreage extended and the 

 export increased. In 1895 the export reached a 

 total of 4,456,300 kilograms, but in that same year 

 the plantations in the Saramacca district began to 

 suffer from a new disease, the witch-broom disease, 

 which caused every following year greater losses, and 

 in the years 1895 to 1900 the production of this 



