■Edible Products. 



428 



[May 1908. 



From time to time attempts have been 

 made to grow Criollo cacao in Dominica, 

 but success has never followed any of 

 them. Planters who have tried to grow 

 it express regret for what experience 

 teaches them was wasted effort. 



The growing of the Forestero and 

 Calabacillo varieties of cacao in the 

 West Indies has been a great commercial 

 success. Although the beans are in- 

 ferior and, in the Calabacillo, extremely 

 bitter, there is still a great demand for 

 it, and it pays to grow. 



Commencing with the cultivation of 

 the best kind, the cacao planter has 

 been forced to give this up in favour of 

 the Forastero variety, a hardier type 

 yielding a lower-grade produce. Very 

 large plantations of this exist to-day, 

 but the variety appears to be weaken- 

 ing. Investigations made by scientists, 

 at the instance of planters, have shown 

 how numerous are the enemies of the 

 cacao tree. Several of these diseases 

 have been described and their seriousnes 

 has been pointed out. One or more of 

 them may become virulent at any time 

 and inflict great loss on planters. The 

 rsvages caused by the ' Witch Broom' 

 disease in Surinam must be fresh in 

 the memory of all interested in these 

 matters. 



Some planters now grow the Calaba- 

 cillo variety alone, on account of its 

 hardiness and freedom from disease. 

 Those who know by experience how 

 harassing is the presence of the ' canker ' 

 and kindred diseases in a plantation 

 will understand why planters prefer 

 hardy trees and lowgrade produce, 

 to delicate trees bearing high-grade 

 produce. 



The method of propagating cacao is 

 the same to-day as always practised. 

 Good pods from trees showing some 

 desirable quality are usually selected 

 and sown. Such seedlings, if planted 

 under good conditions, commence to 

 bear in five or six years and reach their 

 prime when twelve to fifteen years old 

 Owing to cross-fertilization, very few 

 are exactly like the parent, and seed 

 from one Forastero tree will produce 

 plants of the Forastero type and also of 

 all its sub-varieties. It is due to this 

 fact that it is not possible to take full 

 advantage for propagation purposes of 

 trees that sometimes appear on planta- 

 tions and are noticeable on account of 

 their hardiness, freedom from disease, 

 and good bearing qualities. 



It is important that when trees show- 

 ing desirable qualities have been noticed 

 and have been tested for a number of 

 years, these types should be fixed and 



perpetuated. This can be done by bud- 

 ding and grafting. 



The Botanical Department of Jamaica 

 has shown that budding of cacao can be 

 done under certain conditions. The 

 Botanical Deprrtment of Trinidad re- 

 commended the grafting ot cacao some 

 years ago. 



Experiments conducted at the Dominica 

 Botanic Station show that grafting 

 cacao by approach can be fairly easily 

 carried out. A tree of good type is 

 selected, and rough stages are erected 

 round it at varying heights in such posi- 

 tions as to be able to obtain a maximum 

 of young shoots to graft on the stocks 

 Avhich have already been grown in 

 nurseries in bamboo pots. The pots are 

 placed on the staging, young shoots of 

 the cacao tree of the same age and thick- 

 ness as the stocks are carefully denuded 

 of their leaves at the point where they 

 are to be fitted to the stocks, a portion 

 of the bark is removed with a sharp 

 knife both from the scion and the stock, 

 and the two are gently but firmly bound 

 together with garden twine. A small 

 piece of bark is cut from the stem of the 

 scion below the graft so as to make it 

 more dependent on the stock and to 

 hasten the union. In short, it is simply 

 the well-known system of grafting 

 mangos by approach, applied to cacao. 



At certain seasons, with good, healthy 

 stocks, cacao can be grafted in six 

 weeks ; but the average time may be 

 placed at about ten weeks. The plants 

 must be watered daily. When ready to 

 be taken off they may be planted in the 

 field at once or may be removed to a 

 shady nursery and watered daily until 

 the time of planting. 



At present the only stocks available 

 are the Calabacillo and strong Forastero 

 kinds. Theobroma bicolor has been tried 

 as a stock and has failed. It is possible, 

 if the known species of Theobroma could 

 be brought together, that one or more 

 might prove more hardy than Theobroma 

 Cacao, and at the same time suitable as 

 a stock on which to graft the commercial 

 kinds. 



It will, of course, be more costly to 

 plant a field of cacao with grafted than 

 with seeding plants, but the advantage 

 should rest later with the grafted 

 plants. Nothing should be used for 

 propagation but prolific, well-tried kinds, 

 that have shown themselves resistant 

 to the diseases now prevalent in cacao 

 plantations. Some of the advantages 

 that should be gained by this method 

 may be stated below : — 



(1) A planter would be able to grow 

 fields of plants of one selected strain, 



