476 COCOA 



CHAP. 



may be mentioned especially. The first plantation 

 belongs to the well-known French manufacturer, Menier, 

 the last-mentioned one to a Hamburg firm. 



When one arrives in this country in the dry season 

 it gives an impression of being so dry and windy that 

 it can hardly be understood how cocoa can be grown 

 here. 



From the north or north-east the strong, dry wind is blowing. 

 This disagreeable wind is prevalent during the dry season in the 

 whole of Central America. Even during the night it does not give 

 way. The roads are dusty. The thick layer of dust on the leaves 

 shows that rain has not fallen for a long time, and the atmosphere 

 does not give the impression that rain may be expected soon. The 

 whole vegetation, with the many thorny acacias and the hedges 

 made of gigantic representatives of the cactus family, shows that 

 the yearly amount of rain must be very small. 1 



The dry season lasts from November till May. The 

 whole amount of rain is estimated to be no more than 

 1800 mm. (45 inches). 



Cultivation is only possible here by means of irriga- 

 tion. In order to keep off the wind, the plantations 

 are wholly surrounded by rows of closely-planted mango 

 trees, and also along the roads in the plantations mango 

 trees have been planted. 



Shade trees as well as cocoa trees are kept low ; this 

 gives a dwarfed appearance to the fields. The number 

 of shade trees used is large : sometimes one shade tree 

 is planted to every cocoa tree. 



On the Atlantic coast, however, the region is not 

 so arid and the rainfall is greater. This part of 

 Nicaragua seems therefore to have a more suitable 

 climate. 



The following kinds of trees are used in Nicaragua as 

 shade trees : " Madre de cacao " or " Madera negra " 

 (Gliricidia sepium) ; "Quelite" (a kind of Jatropha), 

 which gets not higher than 4 metres; "Elekeme" 

 (Caesalpinia exostemma) and two kinds of Erythrina, 

 one of which, called " Pito," is a small tree much like 



1 Preuss, I.e. p. 261. 



