74 CACAO 



pruning, but the awakening has come, and better and 

 more scientific treatment is being adopted ; but many 

 years must yet elapse before the marks of these careless 

 methods of the past will finally be obliterated. 



Another care in making the cut should be to see that 

 the face of it is either perpendicular or (if possible) sloping 

 at a sufficient angle to shed rain or water from the wound, 

 as nothing is so favourable to the 

 entrance of fungi as the mainten- 

 ance of a constant state of humidity 

 on or in the neighbourhood of a 

 wounded surface. 



As regards hygiene in the field, 

 it is incmnbent upon the planter 

 to take every possible means to 

 ensure the clearing away of all 

 branches and other material which 

 will harbour or allow the develop- 

 ment of spores of destructive fungi, 

 and to be careful in removing and 

 burning as far as possible all prun- 

 ings from the ground. If left to 

 rot upon the plantation, these 

 prunings become the home of in- 

 numerable wood-destroying insects 

 and beetles which are inimical to the welfare of the cacao 

 plant. There is nothing like tidiness and cleanliness in 

 any cultivation, and departure therefrOm is sure to pro- 

 duce sooner or later its concomitant evils. 



The practice of pruning, the way to hold the knife or 

 saw, cutlass or cacao-hook, cannot be taught by any 

 writer. The inexperienced hand should seek practical 

 instruction, and, even then, it requires a considerable 

 amount of time and experience ere he will be able to 

 handle his tools with dexterity and precision. 



The difference between a slovenly cut and a clean cut 

 is at once apparent when the work is compared, and no 

 workman should be permitted to practise pruning upon 



Fig. 20. 

 A well-healed wound. 



