AMONG THE GOLD COAST COCOA FARMS 43 



The seeds, which should be carefully selected from the 

 yield of healthy and highly productive trees, may be 

 reared in a nursery or sown in the ground which the 

 trees are to occupy; the latter method is known as 

 " planting at stake " holes are made in rows at 

 regular distances apart, and three seeds are planted in 

 each hole; of the seedlings which come up, the weaker 

 ones are thinned out, and the strongest of each group 

 left in position. If reared in a nursery, seedlings are 

 transplanted when they are about a foot high. 



Young cocoa is usually tended to the point of being 

 pampered, so delicate has it proved in most countries 

 where it has been induced to grow. The seeds are 

 often sown separately in little "pots," consisting of 

 lengths of bamboo cut off at the joints. But no 

 matter whether the seeds are sown in pots, in a well 

 prepared nursery bed, or at stake, the rule is to shade 

 the precious little seedlings. Plaited palm leaves are 

 commonly used for shading the baby plants. Tem- 

 porary shade is also provided for the trees, until they 

 are about three years old, by catch crops, such as 

 plantains, bananas, or cassava, planted between the 

 rows of cocoa; these catch crops are removed in due 

 course, so that they shall not strangle the main crop 

 and rob it of nourishment. In some countries per- 

 manent shade trees are also interplanted at carefully 

 calculated distances between the rows of cocoa. 



Outside the Agricultural Stations you may search 

 the Gold Coast in vain for a cocoa nursery, or anything 

 approaching it in character. The seeds are sown 

 mustard and cress fashion, in any bit of ground that 

 has been scratched over with a primitive, short- 

 handled hoe. Strange to say, too, they come up as 

 thick and vigorous as a bumper crop of mustard and 



