14 CLIMATIC REQUIREMENTS OF COCOA TREES 



is similar, whilst that of Aburi, as shown above, is 85*20. 

 The rainfall at Aburi is exceedingly well distributed, 

 for a reference to the meteorological records shows that 

 rain almost invariably falls during every month of the 

 year. (See also Dudgeon's Agricultural and Forest 

 Products of West Africa.) 



CEYLON 



As representative of the climate of cocoa-growing 

 countries in the East Indies that of Ceylon may be 

 taken. This fertile island lies between 5 55' and 9 51' 

 North latitude. The rainfall, in the districts where 

 cocoa is principally grown, varies from about 75 to 122 in. 

 per annum ; the average mean annual humidity is 78, 

 and the average annual temperature 74*5 Fahr. There 

 are two monsoons in the year, called respectively the 

 south-west and the north-east ; the former usually 

 arrives between the 10th and 20th of May, and the 

 latter between the end of October and the middle of 

 November. February and March are the driest months ; 

 the two following months are hotter, but the atmosphere 

 is more humid ; during the remaining months of the 

 year rainy weather prevails. 



Broadly speaking, cocoa cultivation is limited to lands 

 lying between 20 North latitude and 20 South latitude. 

 Even within these limits cocoa cultivation is seldom 

 profitable at a higher elevation than 2,000 ft., nor where 

 a protracted dry season obtains. 



The whole of the region lying south of the Equator 

 in South East Africa is unsuited for cocoa cultivation, 

 principally on account of the period of drought, which 

 usually extends from May to September, but there are 

 several suitable localities in the Protectorate of Uganda. 



The cocoa tree flourishes best in countries possessing 

 a hot, equable, moist climate and a well-distributed 

 rainfall. The amount of the rainfall is not so im- 

 portant provided it be well distributed throughout the 

 year and there be an abundance of humidity in the 

 atmosphere during the greater part of the year. 



Countries where droughts and great extremes of 

 temperature obtain are therefore most unlikely to prove 

 profitable for the cultivation of cocoa. 



