THE CACAO-TREE. 15 



scription of the product in the West Indies, 

 written more than a century and a half ago, 

 will be found in the following report, made 

 last year to the State Department at Wash- 

 ington, by the U.S. Consul at La Guayra, 

 in relation to the cultivation of cocoa in 

 Venezuela, where the choicest variety of 

 the exported product, the Caracas, is 

 raised : 



44 The tree grows to the average height of 

 thirteen feet, and from five to eight inches 

 in diameter, is of spreading habit and 

 healthy growth, and, although requiring 

 much more care and attention than the 

 coffee-tree, yet its equally reliable crops 

 require comparatively little labor in prop- 

 erly preparing for the market. 



*'. . . There are two varieties of the 

 cocoa-tree cultivated in Venezuela, known 

 as El Criollo and El Trinitario, respec- 

 tively, the former of which, though not so 

 prolific nor as early fruiting as the latter, 

 is yet superior to it in size, color, sweet- 



