DESCKIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



387 



n Guam sappan wood {B!ancaca sappmi) grows readily, and soon forms lieilges or 

 ^kets of a good lieight, which serve as excellent wiud-l)reaks. The plantation 

 st be kept free from weeds, especially while the plants are still young. In Guam 

 weeds are kept down with a thrust hoe, or fusiiio." Rows of taro or bananas 

 often planted between those of the cacao, and left while the plants are still 

 mg. The bananas not only produce fruit, but, growing readily and rapidly, they 

 as shade plants to the tender young cacao. As the cacao matures, these plants 

 removed. The custom of planting shade trees, called " madre-cacao," is not so 

 valent in Guam as m America; * but in exposed situations trees of galigab 

 rythrina inclica), lemae, or breadfruit, and dugdug, or fertile breadfruit — all 

 ck-growing trees — may be planted to shade the plants, care being taken t(j keep 

 : lower boughs cut off, so as not to interfere with the growth of the cacao, 

 n many parts of the island where the soil is thin, with a substratum of coral, or 

 ere the soil is poor, the cacao should be planted in holes 2 feet in depth and 

 iiameter, filled Avith good rich soil. This method is called " holing," and is used 

 [iianj' tropical countries for other plants as well as for cacao. Dead weeds and the 

 use from the pods after the seeds liave been taken out form an excellent manure, 

 1 should be placed about the trees or buried near their roots. This practice, how- 

 ■r, should not be followed if any pods show evidence of disease. In such an event 

 infected pfids should be carefully burned. 



)nly one stem is allowed to grow until the tree hag reached the height of a meter, 

 3r which three main branches are allowed to remain. The plant should be kept 

 3 from suckers, which sometimes sprout out even after the main branches have 

 leared. In about tliree years from planting the trees will flower, but it is best 

 remove the flowers from young trees, as it is injurious to them to bear fruit before 

 : fourth or fifth year. In Guam the trees liear fruit almost continuouslj', ))ut there 

 two principal crops each year. The fruit is tlien gathered in quantities, some of 

 : best pods selected for seed, and the rest of the seeds are dried and stored or 

 de at once into chocolate. No cacao is exported, except, perhaps, a little sent by 

 ives to friends in Manila or given to people leaving the island, as is the custom in 

 am. 



n gathering the pods the stalks should be cut halfway between the pod and the 

 e, care being taken not to tear the bark, as is often done if the pod be removed 

 twisting; for it is in the bark, at the base of the old jieduncle that the adven- 

 ous buds iiush forth which produce the crop of the following year. The beans 

 freed from pulp and gummy matter, dried in the sun, parched, and ground on 

 ne slabs called "metates" with a cylindrical stone rolling-pin called a "mano," 

 t as maize is ground for making tortillas. The ground paste is fijrmed into balls 

 lozenge-shaped disks, each large enough to make one cup of cliocolate. Chocolate 

 made in Guam is thickened with flour or arrowroot. It is of fine fiavor and is not 

 ilterated in any way, except )jy the addition of sugar and flour. The ilatives scorn 

 Dorted chocolate, saying that it tastes like medicine. The custom of chocolate 

 nking is universal among them. They drink it in the late afternoon, serving it 

 te hot, and offering it to visitors as a matter of etiquette, often accompanying it 

 h sponge cake or poundcake, which they have been taught to make b)- foreigners, 

 1 which they call "keke." 



Jacao beans are sometimes kept in jars and allowed to "sweat" or undergo a sort 

 fermentation, which imjiroves their flavor, but this custom is not universal, 

 ny families, after having dried tlie beans in the sun, keep them until required for 

 , -when they toast thenr as we do coffee, grind them on the family metate, and 

 ke them into chocolate. Chocolate made from the newly ground bean is especially 

 1 and aromatic. 



See Gardens. 



See Cook, Shade in Coffee Culture, U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Botany, Bull. No. 



p. 8, 1901. 



