62 COCOA 



Here we see not only the ubiquitous cocoa-tree, but as 

 witness to Ashanti's magnificent possibilities there are 

 flourishing crops of ground nuts, kola nuts, oil palms, 

 rubber, cassava, rice, coffee, and numerous other 

 tropical products. There are tropical fruits, too, in 

 abundance and infinite variety, and, wonder of wonders, 

 there is a model English market garden, where fine crops 

 of lettuces, cabbages, runner beans, onions, beetroot 

 and artichokes proclaim the good news that Ashanti is 

 capable of producing health-giving fresh vegetables. 



We are, of course, specially interested in the station's 

 cocoa plots. We notice that nowhere is the under- 

 growth allowed to reach bush heights, as is common on 

 the farms, that the trees are pruned, and that the fallen 

 leaves are used as a mulch. The plots are respectively 

 occupied by different varieties of cocoa-trees, which are 

 being cultivated by methods that could easily be 

 followed by the farmers, should experiments prove that 

 some variety of cocoa, other than the now commonly 

 grown Forastero, AmeLonado amarillo, would yield 

 a richer harvest, particularly in the way of better 

 quality beans. As indicative of the farmers' possi- 

 bilities of increasing their output, it is interesting to 

 know that the average annual yield per tree of the 

 Forastero, Amelonado amarillo, grown at the Coomassie 

 Agricultural Station is 7 to 8 Ibs., and the record yield 

 14 Ibs., as against the average annual yield of 2 to 3 Ibs. 

 per tree on the farms. 



A few days later a merry party of us set off by 

 motor, under the guidance of the curator, to visit a 

 model cocoa farm. The model farmer, who turns out 

 to be an important chief, meets us at a village a few 

 miles out of Coomassie. Onwards from this point the 

 only means of access^to our destination is a bush trail. 



