SHADING CACAO 51 



theory that cacao-trees required no shade " after their 

 third year." He followed his own convictions, and allowed 

 no shade. He expended large sums of money, and esti- 

 mated that his estate of two hundred acres would be worth 

 some 47,705 dollars at the end of seven years. His estates 

 failed and were sold, and they are now owned by men who 

 believed in, and who planted shade, and under it are 

 yielding good crops. This appears to be sufficient evidence 

 of the value of suitable shade for cacao-trees. It is, 

 however, reported that official experiments under Govern- 

 ment control are to be made in Trinidad in order that the 

 matter may finally be threshed out ; the result of such 

 experiments, it is confidently anticipated by the writer, 

 will be a decision in favour of a continuance of the present 

 general practice. 



