Feb. 1908.] 



127 



Edible Products. 



forking. This is a painful subject, 

 gentlemen. Please remember that the 

 tree feeds only at the tips of its roots, 

 and that the roots are at least as long as 

 the branches. The root system of the 

 cacao is comparatively weak ; don't 

 weaken it. It is not such a dreadful sin 

 to amputate branches — if you believe 

 you are doing right therein ; but tread 

 softly when you walk over the roots. 

 Coax them down away from the soil 

 surface by letting in air and food through 

 the vertical openings made by fork 

 prongs. Fork lightly and generally,— 

 except in rainy weather. 



You have heard enough already of the 

 live mulch ^over crop idea ; I am de- 

 lighted to learn that promising results 

 are already in evidence. Besides reno- 

 vating and pi'otecting the soil, the web 

 of vines helps to retain the layer of 

 decaying vegetable matter on the soil 

 surface, the extract of which would other- 

 wise go down the drains with every rain. 

 Fortunately most estates are pretty 

 well drained. HoAvever, in some cases I 

 find the middle of the bed not quite so 

 high as the edge of the drain. Make the 

 drains deep rather than wide and let 

 them run obliquely, of course, instead of 

 straight down a slope. Throw the worth- 

 less sub-soil earth in heaps, instead of 

 ridges, and don't haul it back till it has 

 had time to " sweeten up " a bit. 



About weeds. Some strike at the root 

 and thereby frequently kill,—" weed- 

 ing"; others merely pollard which in the 

 case of grass, especially, rather tends to 

 encourage a thickening of the clumps, — 

 " brushing." Weeding is, of course, more 

 expensive but much more efficacious. I 

 would recommend a lighter hoe than the 

 one in general use here. Some weeds 

 must be piled in heaps, buried, or carried 

 out of the plantation to avoid re- 

 sprouting. 



There has been trouble enough over 

 the pruning subject already, but I must 

 touch upon two or three points. A few 

 planters believe that if you remove a 

 sucker, or chupon, two or more will 

 always follow in its place ; but that 

 depends upon how the cut is made and 

 whether the wound becomes infected 

 and the adjacent tissues thereby inflam- 

 ed. Cut close and clean and dress in- 

 stantly when you remove suckers or 

 branches. Don't hesitate to prune 

 suckers ; you can make them branch at 

 any height you please. Don't regard 

 them as parasites ; they are young trees 

 and can bear pods when only three- 

 quarters of an inch in diameter. Few 

 planters have due respect for the chupon ; 

 two have even strenuously asserted that 

 if you cut back a chupon it will always 

 put out obstinately just one shoot. 



With chupons, " renews " from the very 

 base of the trunk, and " palmas " from 

 the large branches, you can rapidly 

 make over a half-dead old tree into a 

 prosperous new one. Don't hesitate to 

 cut a dying tree however ; if it dosen't 

 already have one or two healthy young 

 renews it soon will have, unless the root 

 system is badly affected. By the way, 

 don't leave more of the stump of a cut 

 tree than necessary for the sake of the 

 renews, because two of the three (?) 

 kinds of Lasiodiplodia spores are spread 

 more frequently thus than in any other 

 way, I believe ; however, one brown-rot 

 pod may produce several millions of 

 those terrible black spores sticking to- 

 gether in snake-like coils twisting up out 

 of the black crater-like pycnidia. Don't 

 leave any dead wood, which you suspect 

 to be cankerous, exposed in the planta- 

 tion ; it yields plant food in decay but 

 unless covered and made to rot quickly 

 it may breed not only spores but wood- 

 boring insects. 



It is out of my province, perhaps, but 

 I wish to suggest that the labour should 

 be classified more than it is on most 

 estates. You need specialists and you 

 should make them take an interest in 

 their work ; I believe there is no better 

 way than to give every man who has 

 any responsibility on the plantation a 

 percentage (as small as you like) of the 

 nett profits ; bonuses are good, but per- 

 centages are better. 



Let us all leave the trade word " cocoa " 

 for the manufacturers. This is one of 

 the very few cacao growing countries of 

 the world wherein that old mistake is 

 kept up. 



Trinidad has long been looked up to 

 by other countries as the best cacao field 

 where the best methods of culture are 

 employed ; but I fear her place of honour 

 will be lost within a few years unless 

 the Government and this Society take 

 certain matters seriously in hand and 

 assist the planters to a better appreci- 

 ation of their most excellent advantages 

 and to a fuller realization of their magni- 

 ficent possibilities. Trinidad planters 

 are by no means alone with their 

 troubles. The other cacao countries 

 suffering heavy losses from similar 

 causes, are watching you. Now is your 

 time to show them that Trinidad means 

 to hold her position, as I earnestly hope 

 and believe she will— to surpass them all 

 in the culture of one of the most im- 

 portant crops of the world. Gentlemen, 

 it is up to you. (Applaue.) 



THE DISCUSSION. 



His Excellency :— Does any member 

 wish to ask Mr. Barrett any question, 

 with regard to his paper ? 



