226 EVERYDAY LIFE ON A 



to 8o°, and then gradually lowers until, 

 at four o'clock in the afternoon, it is cool 

 enough to make a brisk walk or game of tennis 

 quite enjoyable. This month is a busy month 

 on a cocoa Estate. Crop is coming in fast, 

 and has to be cured during summer weather 

 out on the barbecue, which gives it the best 

 colour ; when damp and cloudy, in the clarehue 

 on matting coarse enough to admit of the 

 heated air passing freely through. Our store 

 which a few weeks ago was stacked with coffee, 

 is now full to repletion with cocoa. 



In addition to picking and curing cocoa, 

 lopping is now again in full swing. For this 

 work Sinhalese are usually employed ; they 

 are excellent woodmen, understanding 

 thoroughly the wood craft of their native 

 forests, and can climb like monkeys. Cocoa 

 will not crop under dense shade which also 

 favours the development of pod disease. The 

 growth of forest trees is so rapid, that lopping 

 has to be annually, and in some degree bi- 

 annually undertaken. This is also the season 

 for manuring the plants, and for preparing the 

 holes in which during the South West Monsoon 

 supplies will be planted to take the place of 

 the cocoa bushes, that have fallen victims to 

 drought or disease. So altogether it is a busy 

 time, and it is well that the cool North East 

 Monsoon weather enables the work to be done 



