128 CACAO 



The object of drainage is to rid a cacao estate of stagnant 

 or superabundant moisture. Flood waters from a river, 

 so long as they do not cover an estate for too long a period, 

 do but little practical harm ; indeed, in some districts they 

 are looked upon as doing a large amount of good by 

 bringing down and depositing upon the surface a certain 

 amount of manurial constituents. 



Drains made in any kind of cultivation should always 

 be made V-shaped, with a narrow bottom. The practice 

 of making drains with upright sides, which fall in and 

 choke the drain, cannot be too strongly condemned, and 

 can in no case be recommended, and the depth and width 

 of the drains should be regulated by the circumstances of 

 soil and situation. They should never be made straight 

 in coming downhill, as when so made, the wash becomes 

 enormous, especially if the descent approaches an angle 

 of 1 in 20, but in flat land the straighter they are made 

 the better. 



The site for a plantation should always be selected where 

 there is a good natural main outlet for drainage waters. 



" Under draining " with pipe, rubble, or a bush base is, 

 I consider, utterly useless in cacao cultivation, as it 

 stands to reason that such drains must very early be filled 

 by the roots of the trees (both cacao and shade trees), 

 and that the action of the drains after the first few months 

 will be stopped by the roots finding their way into them 

 in search of moisture. The theory is good, but the practice 

 is quite unsound with regard to cacao. It is different in 

 lands on which cereal crops are annually cultivated, for 

 there the roots seldom or ever reach to the drains during 

 the period of growth, and consequently the drains them- 

 selves work from year to year without let or hindrance ; 

 but the principle cannot be effectively applied on cacao 

 estates. The planter should therefore trust entirely to his 

 surface drainage, and make that system do the work to 

 the best advantage. 



Draining is of such importance that it should never be 

 carried out without knowing the levels of the estate, which 



