PICKING AND HARVESTING 135 



require different treatment to the CrioUo, and the CrioUo,* 

 again, a different treatment to that required by Forastero. 



The pods when thus collected should be placed in 

 separate heaps. By some cultivators they are left a day 

 or two before being opened, by others they are opened at 

 once and the beans sent on to the curing-house, or 

 " Boucan," as it is called in Grenada. The latter practice 

 would be our choice, as it enables the planter to secure 

 his produce from the weather and from the depredations 

 of rats, squirrels, and the not infrequent cacao thief. In 

 the one case the labour is performed by a few pickers and 

 carriers, and the breaking has to wait until sufficient 

 material is collected for a single fermentation, in the latter 

 more hands are required but the picking of a single day 

 is fermented by itself. On large cacao estates, however, 

 it is almost impossible to gather or harvest cacao without 

 having some over-ripe pods and pods with growing beans 

 among the crop. These should be separated when the 

 breaking takes place and treated by themselves, as such 

 material can never make first-class cacao. 



In Trinidad the cost of picking and drying, &c., ranges 

 from 5s. to 6s. per 112 lb. {Annual Report Botanic Depart- 

 ment, 1907, p. 22). In Olivieri's " Treatise on Cacao," 

 3rd Ed., 5s. \d. to Qs. Bd. is given as the usual cost. 



On estates suitably provided with drying space the crop 

 can be placed upon the market at the rate of $2" 40 or 

 10s. per 220 lb., but in exceptional cases the cost might 

 reach as high as $4-00 to $5-00 or 16s. 8d. to £1 Os. lOd. 

 for the same weight, the cost depending much upon the 

 accessibility of the district and quantity and quality of 

 labour available. 



A well-known operator reports that he picks and puts 

 into " sweat house " at a cost of 80 cents to $1'20 per 110 lb., 

 i.e. 80 cents in crop time and $1"20 when there is little to 

 be picked. On some estates contracts are made for picking 



* The correct interpretation of the word CrioUo, as used in the West Indies, 

 is "native," certainly not "cross-bred." (/See Olivieri's " Treatise on Cacao," 

 2nd Bd. p. 10). 



