and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society.— June, 1910. 561 



NICARAGUAN CRIOLLO GAG AG. 



MR. J. H. HART'S CRITICISMS OF 

 MESSRS, R. H. LUCK'S AND HERBERT 

 WRIGHT'S BOOKS. 



From the proceedings of the Agricultural 

 Society of Trinidad and Tobago we note 

 that a somewhat heated discussion has been 

 waged by agricultural scientists in that 

 island regarding the identification of cer- 

 tain varieties of cacao. The names of more 

 than one scientific gentleman connected with 

 Ceylon are mentioned, and we are, therefore, 

 induced to give a brief outline of the corre- 

 spondence which covers eight pages of the 

 journal referred to. It appears that at an 

 Agricultural Show held in Port-ofSpain some 

 time ago, the Department of Agriculture ex- 

 hibited a set of cacao pods amongst which was 

 a lot labelled Niearaguan Criollo. These pods 

 according to Mr. J. H. Hart, f. l. s., were 

 so contrary to the form recognised as Nieara- 

 guan Criollo as figured by Preuss, Wright, 

 and several others that it would appear 

 important to ascertain their origin, and he 

 suggested that the Department of Agricul- 

 ture might be asked to afford information 

 on the point. The pods in question had 

 yellow skin, bottle necks, and generally showed 

 all the points of Trinidad Oriollp, Our old 

 friend, Mr. J. B. Carruthers, subsequently 

 wrote to the Secretary of the Agricultural 

 Society regretting that Mr. Hart con- 

 sidered the designation on the labels of 

 some of the cacao exhibited at the Show 

 incorrect ; and pointed out that the ques- 

 tion pf the characters of the tarieties of 

 Theob'roma afforded much scope for difference 

 of opinion and those who had paid special at- 

 tention to the matter had varied views. Clas- 

 sifications had been made by Hart, Morris, 

 Preuss, Wright and Lock, and he had discussed 

 the subject with the last three botanists. All 

 their lists applied to some extent to varieties as 

 found in all countries where cacao was culti- 

 vated. In regard to Morris' and Hart's classi- 

 fications, Mr. Carruthers said Dr. Preuss 

 was of the opinion that they did not always 

 strictly apply to cacao even in Trinidad 

 itself. The most recent and authoritative 

 classification was that of Mr. R. H. Lock, late 

 fellow of Caius Cambridge and Assistant Di- 

 rector of Gardens, Ceylon, who was an authority 

 on variation and heredity in plants. His paper 

 in the Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Peradeniya, with coloured plates was most ex- 

 haustive. Unfortunately there was no copy in 

 the library there and his own copy was in the 

 hands of the binder in England, so that he 

 could not compare the pods which were exhi- 

 bited at the Show with Mr. Lock's system. 

 Proceeding Mr. Carruthers pointed out that 

 new strains arise in cacao with great facility, 

 and in Trinidad as elsewhere the pods borne by 

 a tree at one crop do not always agree in their 

 external characters, size, shape, colour, etc,, 

 with the fruits of the same tree at another time. 

 This resulted in much confusion and made the 

 task of compiling a satisfactory and permanent 



catalogue of cacao fruits possessing distinctive 

 characters more than difficult. The fact that 

 the varieties are so little constant makes them 

 of less importance agriculturally, and for some 

 years he declared he had advocated that in 

 amelioration of cacao cultivation, selection for 

 bearing yields and not for varietal characters 

 was the best mode of progress. He had no 

 doubt that, as Mr. Hart pointed out, the pods 

 he saw at the Agricultural Show were not what 

 he recognised as typical " Niearaguan Criollo 11 

 and perhaps not even what he would call "Ni- 

 earaguan Criollo" at all, but as there was no ac- 

 cepted standard it was not possible to label pods so 

 that all experts in this question would be satisfied. 

 Mr. Hart makes a vigorous and lengthy reply 

 alleging that the question referred to the De- 

 partment of Agriculture, had not been answered, 

 but a disquisition on value of varieties of cacao, 

 and an estimation of the work of various writers 

 on the subject, had been substituted. The ques- 

 tion asked was plain ; viz. " It xooutd appear im- 

 portant to ascertain their origin, and I suggest 

 that the Department of Agriculture be asked to 

 afford information on the 'point." He also asked 

 it to be further noted that the "Government 

 Botanist has altered the subject of the minute 

 paper, and had substituted another for discus- 

 sion." He then proceeds to criticise the works 

 of both Mr. R. H. Lock and Mr. Herbert 

 Wright. Mr. Hart is, of course, an authority 

 on the subject and we give his remarks in full: — 

 Mr. Carruthers refers to Mr. Lock (a gentle- 

 man of short tropical experience) as having 

 given the most recent and authoritative classi- 

 fication of cacao. A reference to that gentle- 

 man's work however will show that he was 

 almost entirely dealing with material sent to 

 the East from the West Indies; the larger 

 part of which Messrs. Lock and Carruthers 

 should be unaware was selected and forwarded 

 by the writer to the late Dr. Trimen when in 

 charge of the Ceylon Gardens, and since. It 

 should follow therefore, that I may rightly 

 claim some authority in my own determinations; 

 especially seeing that my experience extends to 

 more than twice that of the gentlemen men- 

 tioned. Lock's classification is given in Wright's 

 Work (page 30) which I have in hand and 

 differs little from those of Hart and Morris. 

 But although Lock's classification may be autho- 

 ritative for Ceylon, where they have assembled 

 some of the West Indian and Central American 

 varieties, it does not necessarily follow that it 

 covers all the cacao of the western world. 

 The Government Botanist discusses and depre- 

 ciates the value of classifications but appears to 

 have overlooked the important fact in relation 

 to the question now at issue, (viz ) : that Lock 

 has actually given a most distinctive character 

 for Niearaguan Criollo while he asserts that 

 there is no accepted standard. His contention 

 is unfortunate, for if there is one variety in 

 the whole range of cacao, which can be de- 

 fined by its characters it is the Nieara- 

 guan Criollo, and it is to be noted that 

 Preuss, Wright, Lock and Hart, all agree 

 upon this point. Niearaguan Cacao has a high 

 shouldered pod either red or yellow and has 

 seeds nearly double the size of any other 

 variety of Theobroma Cacao, a fine break, 



71 



