CHAPTER VI 



SHADING CACAO 



The question of shade for cacao is one on which there 

 exists a great diversity of opinion among the best informed, 

 but it is one of the very highest importance. In discussing 

 the question, it may be mentioned that the writer, in the 

 first years of his experience, was a non-shader, but is now 

 a full believer in the necessity for sufficient shade, dis- 

 tinguishing that from too little, or too much, both of 

 which are bad. In some few places, Grenada, for instance, 

 cacao is most generally grown without shade. In Trinidad 

 shade has been the rule since the " long ago," and to-day 

 it is but few who would risk planting without it. More 

 than usual interest, however, has been recently taken in 

 the matter in Trinidad and elsewhere by public discussion, 

 which does not appear to have altered much the procedure 

 of to-day. It was argued that because coffee was found 

 to bear better without shade in the hills of Porto Rico, 

 per se, cacao in Trinidad required no shade. The author 

 of the present work considers the logic of the argument 

 unsound, because the premise is false, as it is a well-known 

 fact that coffee thrives better in the hills without shade, 

 while it requires shade on the plains, as proved by a five 

 years' trial in Jamaica {see Annual Reports, Botanical 

 Department of that island). Again, it has been argued 

 that because a cacao leaf is green it must require plenty 

 of sun. This, again, is illogical, as numerous green plants 

 are known which require shade in order to thrive, and will 

 not grow if exposed to direct sunlight. A fine illustration 

 is before the author as he writes. In a large open pasture 

 are fine, spreading " Saman " trees. Under these trees are 



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