G CACAO 



to make samples of a character formerly impossible. It will also enable him 

 to ^ow such types as the CrioUo or any weak grower upon the vigorous growing 

 varieties of the Calabaoillo type. 



When grown from seed, the selection should only be made after due examina- 

 tion of the interior of the bean, as the quality of the finished article can generally 

 be determined by this means. The trees selected for seed bearers should be 

 vigorous, healthy, of good form, and the blossoms should be efficiently protected 

 from cross-fertilisation, or if deemed expedient the flowers themselves may be 

 artificially fertilised. It would then,, be seen that the produce could be made 

 to come true to a very high percentage, and once plantations of a single tjrpe 

 oould be brought into existence, them superiority would be so obvious that 

 no further persuasion would be required to have the method generally adopted, 

 as it would be seen to be the most profitable practice which could be pursued. 

 Fields would then be arranged so as to produce a sample of one certain quality, 

 showing no variation in the size and form of bean or the quality of its interior. 

 It would be possible to have plantations on which not a single red pod could 

 be found, and others on which not a single yellow one appeared. 



How easily this result could be obtained by grafting is 

 readily to be seen, and although perhaps slightly more 

 lengthy and expensive, it is a preferable mode of propa- 

 gation to that of raising from seed, and in the long run it 

 would pay handsomely. There are excellent kinds in the 

 fields, and if these were used for propagating purposes, and 

 each distinct variety kept separate in the same way as in 

 fruit farms, classes of cacao could be put upon the market 

 having a distinct and regular value. Field names would 

 be infinitely preferable to the names now used, as these 

 latter are by their indefinite character quite useless for 

 identification. 



Trinidad CrioUo is by general consent admitted to pro- 

 duce a high quality cacao and is known to be similar in 

 character to that produced by the so-called Caracas variety, 

 which is in reality Venezuelan CrioUo. In a consular report 

 on the agricultural conditions of Colombia, Consul Dick- 

 son mentions that " the variety chiefly grown in Colombia 

 is different to that of Venezuela, which produces Caracas 

 cacao, the pods being much larger and containing a greater 

 number of beans, but as the number of pods produced by a 

 tree is greater, it is probable that on the whole the Vene- 

 zuelan variety is the more productive of the two. The 

 quality of Colombian cacao is little, if at all, inferior to 

 that of the Venezuelan, but it is little known in commerce, 

 as only an insignificant amount is exported, the supply 



