CHAPTER IX 



DISEASES OF CACAO 



In 1892 the author published the following on the subject 

 of cacao disease : " Fortunately for the cultivator the 

 serious diseases which attack the cacao are few ; perhaps 

 the most common is that known as ' canker.' This word 

 is, however, somewhat misleading and indefinite, as there 

 are several diseases improperly called ' canker ' which 

 are caused by entirely diflferent organisms. Studies made 

 during the past eighteen years by the writer and others 

 have shown that there are many diseases to which cacao 

 is subject that were unknown in 1892, a few of which 

 are of serious importance. That they have been dis- 

 covered recently is, however, the result of diligent search. 

 It is highly probable that they existed in the forest long 

 before cacao was extensively cultivated, but at present 

 there is no proof, or even suspicion, of any one of them 

 having been introduced." 



The following extracts from De Verteuil's " Trinidad," * 

 1884, pp. 431-433, show that certain diseases existed 

 long ago, although their exact nature was not well under- 

 stood : 



The prosperity of the colony had now (1703) reaxihed its culminating point, 

 cacao selling at a very high price. But in the year 1727, according to Gumilla, 

 not a disease of the trees exactly, but a blight attacking the pods under certain 

 atmospheric influences, destroyed the crops. . . . Governor Nanclares had 

 for his successor Colonel Don Pedro de la Moneda (1757). ... It was about 

 this time that an attempt was successfully made to reintroduce the cacao 

 plant. A new species, the Cacao Forastero, which being hardier, although 

 not yielding the same fine quality, succeeded beyond expectation. It b this 

 quality which is still cultivated in our days. 



• " Trinidad : its Geography, Natural Beaources, Administration, Present 

 Condition and Prospects." By L. A. A. De Vertenll.M.D.P. Second edition. 

 London : Cassell and Co., Ltd., 1884. 



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