THE CUBA RE V I E W 



17 



Showing Brazilian Rubber Trees, Shading Cacao, Oriente Province 



Cacao Culture in Cuba 



By Alvin Fox, B.Sc, Ph.D., Agricultural Botanist. 



Cacao is of course grown on flat land best, and when the conditions are favorable 

 it has many advantages. There have been, however, many mistakes made in selecting 

 locations on the plains, and it may be well to call attention to the folly of starting on a 

 worn out (sugar cane) land, or on poor sandy soil, or on hard clay soil, or on a wind 

 swept plain where it would be difficult to furnish adequate wind protection. It is true 

 that such lands can be improved and made to produce cacao, or any other crop, but it 

 should certainly not be planted until such improvements have been made according to 

 the conditions of the soil and other requirements necessary to make it a paying 

 proposition. 



Cacao is at home in Cuba, especially the Oriente Province of Cuba, where there 

 are moist wind sheltered valleys with a day temperature of 80° and a night temperature 

 of 65° to 70°. Trees are often found in the mountains where the temperature is much 

 lower than this, but the lower altitude and higher temperature are well known to be 

 most favorable. 



The amount of rain needed depends on the distribution, the physical conditions 

 of the soil, and on cioltural methods. On flat land with friable soil on which the 

 capillary action is maintained by mulch or cultivation, two inches per month might be 

 quite sufficient, while on a steep hillside, not cultivated, the trees might suffer from 

 drought with twice or three times that amount. Generally the rainfall should be from 

 60 to 100 inches per year. The soil moisture is not depleted so rapidly and the trees 



