AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY OF CACAO 215 



In Trinidad, estates are known which have been pro- 

 ducing cacao with undiminished average yield for nearly 

 a century, without anything more than " incidental 

 increment," which clearly shows that it amounts to a 

 quantity which is far from inconsiderable. The inference 

 clearly is, that supplies are afforded by Nature in a way 

 not yet sufficiently understood or taken into account. 



Trees require supplies, and trees obtain supplies, as 

 evidenced by their yield of fruit containing the same 

 materials. How they obtain them and whence they come 

 are questions deserving the serious attention of tropical 

 planters. 



It must not be understood from the foregoing that the 

 writer deprecates manuring ; for it is certain that given 

 the want of it, better crops are obtained with than without 

 it, and the want of it may be easily found by the simple 

 experiment of applying it, watching the result, and acting 

 accordingly. 



The factor of soil content, though of high importance, 

 is considered to have less influence on the quality of the 

 produce grown than the possession by the tree of certain 

 inherent and special qualities which enable it to perfect 

 its produce in definite form, colour, flavour, and aroma, 

 and no other. We cannot make a Jersey cow out of a 

 Hereford by feeding it with certain food, neither can we 

 reap a fine quality of cacao from a low cross-bred strain 

 by supplying it with manures or fertilisers of any special 

 kind, or by certain treatment during fermentation, a fact 

 which can be readily proved. We can increase the quantity 

 of produce by extra manuring or extra food, in the same 

 way as we can increase the yield of grain or the yield of an 

 apple-tree, but the quality depends on the class of tree 

 planted, and not (except in a minor degree) upon the 

 quantity or quality of manure applied. A tree turns its 

 food-supply into material in the way described of old : 

 " Every tree shall produce fruit after its kind." I have 

 written on this point strongly because there exist in the 

 West Indies and also in other countries ideas that the 



