11 



Diseases— Scale insects are easily destroyed by the mixture of soap 

 and kerosine recomended in the Bulletin for December, 1898. Gum- 

 ming is prevented almost entirely by liming the soil. Beetles eat the 

 leaves, causing much damage ; the remedy is to catch and kill them, 

 or if too numerous, to spray with Paris green mixed with water. 



Cocoa. 



A chemist who has studied Cocoa in the various W. India Islands 

 where it is grown, states that he has formed the opinion that not much 

 dependence can be placed on the form of the pod in making choice of 

 good seed. One seed in the pod should be cut, and the colour noted. 

 This, he thinks, is a more reliable test than the form of the pod. For 

 flavour he prefers the white colour in the interior of the seed. But if 

 this kind of cocoa is produced by a tree not so vigourous as that yield- 

 ing seeds with red or purple colour, at any rate the light pink colour is 

 preferable to the purple colours. 



He is of the opinion that small settlers should go in for a quick fer- 

 mentation of about 4 days in shallow boxes. 



In March 1899, 60 young plants were planted out at Hope, some of 

 these on good loamy soil with irrigation have reached a height of from 

 3 to 7 feet, those on thin dry gravelly soil deficient in humus have 

 grown but little. Cocoa needs good moist soil and some shade when 

 young. Old cocoa trees need similar root conditions, but not shade. 

 All cocoa trees require protection from wind. 



It is necessary to plant young trees each year in order that the. boys 

 may be instructed in the act of planting, pruning and caring the 

 young trees. 



Coffee. 



Mr. Robt. Thomson in a letter to the " Times" during last year 

 quotes paragraphs from his paper published in a Foreign Office Report 

 in 1895 (Misc. Ser. 370 Colombia.) 



He states in his report that coffee cultivation in Colombia yields a 

 larger profit than in Jamaica. 



He assigns several causes, viz ; land at a nominal cost, cheap and 

 abundant labour, exchange in planters' favour, and larger yield per 

 acre. 



All these causes are more than sufficient to account for a large profit. 

 He might have added abundance of land with virgin soil and suitable 

 climate, which would fully account for the larger yield. He, however, 

 appears to think that u one of the chief elements of success must be 

 assigned to the systematic interplanting of shade trees with the coffee,' 7 

 and apparently assumes that this is not the practice in Jamaica. 



Elsewhere he alleged that another reason for the low price of 

 Jamaica coffee is the want of careful preparation. 



I understand, although he does not make it clear, that he is only re- 

 feiringtothe coffee of the peasantry. It is however hardly fair to 

 compare without discrimination the coffee industry in the two countries : 

 in Colombia it is carried on by capitalists on large estates, whereas in 

 Jamaica the bulk of the coffee is grow by peasants on small holdings. 



Mr. Thompson refers to extension of cultivation. In my Annual 

 Report for 1892-93 I dealt with the desirability of the extension of 



