Feb. 1908.1 



125 



Edible Productst 



nearly every cacao tree in this island is 

 in need of more food ; many are actually 

 starving. Unless the soil surface is 

 loosened either by mulching or by the 

 vertical forking operation, most of the 

 nutriment contained in the decaying; 

 leaves, branches, etc., lying on the 

 ground is washed away by rains into the 

 drains. Very few planters have treated 

 their shell heaps economically ; instead 

 of throwing the broken pods into a 

 ravine, burying them in pits, or scatter- 

 ing them raw over the ground, they 

 should be either composted in concrete 

 pits or shovelled into a pile, well limed 

 and covered with banana leaves. This 

 causes a rapid fermentation and soon 

 reduces the heap to a manure pile which 

 should be spread lightly over the 

 surrounding aiea as soon as the 

 crustiness has disappeared. The lime 

 and the scavenger bacteria covered in 

 by the leaves will rapidly destroy the 

 spores in and upon the shells, thus 

 reducing the possibility of contagion to 

 the minimum. A medium sized shell 

 heap t.ieated thus should be worth $2 00 

 to $5 00 as manure. Artificial fertilizers 

 should be tried conscientiously — not upon 

 a few trees on uneven ground having a 

 " packed" surface. Remember that two 

 light applications are four times as 

 good as one heavy one. I would recom- 

 mend the potash and phosphoric acid 

 mixtures; nitrogen should be put into 

 the soil by leguminous cover crops like 

 the velvet beans, horse or sword, beaus, 

 the cow-peas, the beggar weeds, the 

 crotalarias, etc. A sprinkling of slaked 

 lime— not over a pound per tree once or 

 twice a year will sweeten the soil and 

 release some of its plant food — if you 

 allow it to get into the soil. Never 

 apply any kind of fertilizer in heaps 

 nor near the base of the trunk. 



The prevention of infection is the most 

 important matter for the planter to con- 

 sider at present. It is a 1 trge and long 

 subject; let us put it briefly. Never 

 make a cut — not even in picking a pod — 

 without immediately applying a spore- 

 proof dressing. This substance should be 

 waterproof, should dry without cracking, 

 should not poison the contiguous tissue, 

 and should be plainly visible. Resin oil 

 thickened with manjak or even with fine 

 clay is nearly perfect. Tallow added to 

 pine tar helps to prevent the washing 

 off and also the burning of the bark, 

 Any of the ochre paints are very good. 

 The sponge attached to the pod-picking 

 tools must he kept wet with some aseptic 

 dressing. By the way, I do not expect 

 many planters will use the pole pod^ 

 picker at once, but I must urge everyone 

 who wishes to treat his trees properly 

 to pick all pods that may be readily 



reached with the shears. The pod stem 

 should be cut rather close to the cushion, 

 and the dressing applied with the 

 motion which severs it. Fortunately in 

 no instance have I failed to readily c< i- 

 vince a planter that the terrible con- 

 dition of the cushions and consequent 

 loss of a large per cent, of the young 

 pods is due to decay — the rotting buck 

 of the pod stem or infection through a 

 cutlass or goulette wound. Once those 

 insidious spores of Lasiodiplodia get into 

 a cushion, there is little chance for a pod 

 to ever ripen on that cushion thereafter. 

 You may get seven or eight mature pods 

 from one cushion at a picking, and you 

 ought to get many crops from each 

 cushion ; but with the present abund- 

 ance of said spores, the past methods 

 mean death to the fruit-supporting 

 organs of the tree. If loss of tissue were 

 the only bad results of fungus infection, 

 the planter would be able to pick a 

 large part of the pods which die young 

 at all times, but especially during 

 " change of leaf"; but the poisoning of 

 the sap flowing past an infected portion 

 of cushion into the " chilero's " soft stem 

 accounts for the terrific death-rate 

 among young fruits. Indeed, if a decay 

 spot exists anywhere on the branch, the 

 whole sap supply of that branch is not 

 only reduced but vitiated. And, worse 

 still, a tree which has received a dozen 

 or more wounds near the base of the 

 trunk has all it can attend to in attempt- 

 ing to heal over those wounds and fight 

 the cancerous canker which enters 

 thereby without making any pods, 

 though it may try to pub out a few weak 

 flowers. 



This is not the place to discuss the 

 difference between the Nectria and the 

 Lasiodiplodia cankers, nor to dwell upon 

 the uumerous secondary fungi attacking 

 the leaves, pods, and bark of the cacao ; 

 all these pests should be thoroughly 

 investigated at once. You have been 

 told, I believe, that the oozing of gum 

 and claret-coloured liquid is the " first 

 symptom" of canker— it is, gentlemen, 

 the last,— the effect of bacteria feeding 

 upon the dead material left by the 

 fungus. Don't attempt to treat diseased 

 cushions,— you haven't time. But with 

 ouge chisel and mallet, farriers ' knife, 

 atchet, and (if you must have it) the 

 short sharp cutlass, remove all dead or 

 dying tissue whether bark or wood that 

 might continue to menace the trees' 

 health. You need not cut out all the 

 dead wood if in a cavity, provided you 

 apply an antiseptic dressing. Open up 

 the shallow cavities so that water will 

 readily run off. Fill all deep holes with 

 the clay-hbre mixture ; remove as much 

 of the dead wood from the hole as 



17 



