March, 1910.] 



207 



Edible Product*. 



others who sought, against allfprecedent, 

 to accomplish results nowhere else 

 attainable. 



It has now transpired that though 

 Samoa unquestionably produces cacao 

 of the very highest value, and that it 

 occasionally yields crops almost un- 

 believable in profusion, it still takes 

 quite as long in that country to bring 

 a plantation into the paying stage as 

 it does elsewhere ; and all of the old 

 calculations that cacao would pay 

 expenses in the fourth year and yield 

 an enormous profit in the fifth year 

 and thereafter are hopelessly wrong in 

 practice. Instances of success have 

 been known, but general practice proves 

 that a plantation which is paying its 

 expenses in the fifth year, and which 

 netts from its crop from $100 to $125 per 

 acre thereafter, is a good average plant- 

 ation. 



Usually, besides the length of time 

 necessary for these results, it has cost 

 the proprietor about $200 per acre to 

 earry his plantation along to the paying 

 stage. This money has gone out in 

 the shape of wages to employes, food 

 for them, houses, horses, wagons, and 

 tools. Cacao properties, when in bear- 

 ing, are difficult to buy, as owners, 

 being sure of a fine revenue running 

 for many years and with light expense, 

 are unwilling to part with them. Prob- 

 ably $500 or $600 per acre would be 

 a fair price for such properties, but 

 so far no plantations in good working 

 order have been disposed of; for al- 

 though sellers are scarce enough, buyers 

 do not appear in force either. 



When a land selection has been made, 

 the planter usually contracts with either 

 Rotumah natives, Samoans, or Nieueans, 

 to fell the bash and lop the branches 

 of the fallen trees. The timber is 

 allowed to remain prostrate for about 

 six weeks, when the planter lines up 

 his Chinese or other labour, and with 

 light axes and heavy knives they cut 

 off the branches and pile them about 

 the stumps and heavy stems for burn- 

 ing. The usual practice is to cut and 

 pile all day, and after 5 p.m. several 

 labourers with torches set fire to the 

 many piles which have been made, and 

 these burn throughout the night much 

 better than they would do during the 

 heat of the day. Besides, when the 

 labourers set to work on the following 

 morning the smoke has disappeared and 

 the field is clear for working. When 

 the whole field has thus been burnt 

 over once, the labourers are lined up 

 again in the original positions, and the 

 half- burned faggots are collected and 

 placed about the stumps of those trees 



which exhibit signs of sending out 

 shoots. Some varieties are very persist- 

 ent, and a third and often a fourth 

 burning is needed to kill them. Though 

 the land thus roughly cleared is covered 

 with the stems of forest giants, and 

 great stumps stand up in all directions, 

 the planter looks upon his clearing 

 work as being nearly over. He now 

 lays off the tract for his cacao, staking 

 off the plant positions 12 ft. x 12 ft. 

 or 15 ft. x 15 ft., as he decides upon, 

 and holes are dug about 15 in. in dia- 

 meter and 2 ft. deep, the extracted 

 earth bfing placed on one side to sweeten 

 for a time. Meanwhile, the whole field 

 has grown green with millions of 

 mummy apples and other spontaneous 

 growths of vine or weed. Within a 

 month after tho last burning the pro- 

 perty has to be weeded, part of the 

 thick-growing mummy apples being al- 

 lowed to survive to act as shade for 

 the young cacao. Plants about 8 in. 

 high are now brought from the nur- 

 series and set out, and.it is often that 

 the shades of coconut branches or other 

 materials are needed to protect them 

 from the fierce rays of the sun, which 

 are hottest during the intervals of 

 the rainy season. 



Within four months the mummy 

 apples have grown to the height of 6 ft. 

 or 7 ft,, and they act as a good temporary 

 shade, helping also to keep down weeds, 

 which of all things cause the greatest 

 amount of labour. A permanent shade, 

 known as the dadap, is generally planted 

 and spaced about 70 ft. apart. These 

 trees grow much faster than the cacao, 

 and serve to protect it from both sun 

 and wind. The first pruning takes 

 place in the second year, and harmful 

 suckers must be kept down at all times. 

 The young plants are hardy, and in three 

 years are generally 5 ft, or 6 ft. high, 

 often producing fruit and always pro- 

 ducing blossoms. They are not at this 

 time subject to any serious diseases, 

 though occasionally one will die from 

 attacks of fungus or white ants. 



In the fifth year the plant endeavours 

 to bear a heavy crop, and under usual 

 seasonable conditions it succeeds in so 

 doing ; but the trees have not really 

 reached their maturity until they are 

 seven or eight years old, when their 

 stems are about 10 in. in diameter, and 

 the trees from 15 ft. to 20 ft. high. At 

 this time they shade the ground 

 beneath them to such an extent that 

 neither weeds nor grass will grow. No 

 further attention is required beyond 

 keeping down the suckers which occa- 

 sionally appear, and harvesting the 

 crop. 



