THE COCOA TREE AND ITS FRUIT 11 
reproduced, represents it with its comparatively large fruits or pods 
borne on the main stem. This might be thought at first to be an 
error of the artist, but it is in fact a rude expression of one of the 
most remarkable peculiarities of the plant. As will be shown presently, 
when a fuller description is given, the fruits are, as a rule, formed 
on the older parts. The engraving shows that the cocoa tree is shel- 
tered by a larger tree of some other kind near it. This practice of 
planting a sheltering tree to shade the young cocoa tree for a time is 
still kept up wherever the plant is 
successfully cultivated. It is cer- 
tainly interesting that this point in 
cultivation, which might easily have 
been thought to be accidental or 
local, ‘was delineated more than 
three centuries ago. 
The seeds of the tree are borne 
in pods, which are irregular and 
angular in shape, much like some 
forms of cucumbers, but more 
pointed at the lower extremity, and 
‘more distinctly grooved. These 
THE COCOA TREE 
pods measure in length nine inches 
to a foot, or even more, and about half as much in diameter. 
The color, when young, is green, becoming later dark yellow or 
yellowish brown. The rind is thick and tough. The pods are 
filled with closely packed ‘‘beans,’’ or seeds, embedded in a 
mass of cellular tissue, sometimes of pleasant subacid taste. The- 
seeds are about as large as ordinary almonds, whitish when 
fresh, and of a disagreeable bitter taste. When dried they become 
brown. 
The fruits are about four months in ripening; but they appear and 
mature the whole year through. In point of fact, however, there are 
