46 COCOA 



regularly done on the land in the way of weeding, 

 pruning, digging, mulching, and manuring, and a great 

 deal of trouble is taken to combat disease. 



In the Gold Coast, the great majority of the farmers 

 give their cocoa little or no cultural assistance from 

 one year's end to another, beyond drawing up some 

 of the fallen leaves to the base of the trees they do 

 not even loosen the soil before applying the mulch. 

 And if disease plays havoc with the trees on one bit of 

 ground, they leave that plot to its fate and plant up 

 a fresh clearing with cocoa. Very often the newly- 

 planted plot is quite close to the abandoned one, 

 which is to say very near a danger source of infection. 



CHAPTER IX 



AMONG THE GOLD COAST COCOA FARMS (continued) 



As there is still no one to be seen we go back to the 

 car and slowly continue our journey along the road, 

 all the time on the lookout for any sign of cocoa being 

 gathered or anyone who can tell us where we may 

 possibly find someone who has elected to have some 

 plucking done to-day. 



We have come about a couple of miles further when 

 out from a stretch of bushland emerges a boy, carrying 

 on his head a calabash full of fresh cocoa beans. 

 Fortunately, he savvies a little "pidgin" English. 

 He offers to guide us to a farm where he thinks some 

 pods are being harvested. 



" How far away ?" we ask. 



" He be small far," is the reply, which means to say, 

 "far, but not very far," and that may mean any 

 distance from a hundred yards to ten miles. 



