April, 1909.] 



337 



Edible Products. 



The President pointed out that in the 

 experiments carried on by the officers of 

 the Department, the quality of pen 

 manures used was considered as a ' good 

 average,' and although the application 

 of pen manures varied in quantity on 

 different estates, yet one could arrive at 

 a fairly accurate idea of what results 

 might be expected from applications of 

 pen manure by taking averages over 

 several years. 



Dr. Watts drew attention to cotton- 

 cake-meal, a manure that was generally 

 fairly uniform in composition, and sug- 

 gested that its use might be valuable 

 in cacao cultivation. 



The President was glad that Dr. Watts 

 had referred to this matter. He would 

 urge most strougly on those islands that 

 were growing cotton to a large extent, 

 that they should not export the seed, 

 but should use it either in the form of 

 seed or meal as a manure. He desired 

 therefore to emphasize what Dr. Watts 

 had said about the manuriai value of 

 cotton seed atii coctou-cake-meal. 



GRAFTING CACAO. 



By Joseph Jones, 

 Curator, Botanic Station, Dominica. 



In the West Indian Bulletin, Vol. 

 VIII., pp. 131-8, a brief note on experi- 

 ments in grafting cacao at the Dominica 

 Botanic Station has been published. A 

 further note is now submitted, in which 

 the work done is briefly summarized and 

 an indication of the position of these ex- 

 periments at the present date given. 



The first attempts at grafting cacao 

 in Dominica were made in the Botanic 

 Station nurseries in July, 1905, when 

 a good type of Criollo cacao seedlings 

 and Alligator cacao seedlings were 

 worked on stocks of Theobroma bicolor, 

 with a view to finding if the latter 

 would prove a suitable stock on 

 which to grow the commercial varieties 

 of cacao. Theobroma bicolor- did not 

 prove suitble as a stock. Although the 

 union of the cacao seedlings appeared 

 complete, no growth followed, and the 

 trial failed- 



An attempt was then made to graft 

 by approach young growing shoot of 

 the Alligator cacao (Theobroma penta- 

 gona) on Forastero stocks. For tbis 

 purpose a rough stage was placed 

 near to a seedling Alligator cacao-tree 

 43 



that had produced fruit. On this were 

 placed the bamboo pots containing the 

 seedling plants, and selected shoots of 

 the Alligator cacao were grafted to 

 the seedlings. The seedlings were sup- 

 plied with water each day. In eight 

 weeks the union was complete and the 

 first batch of five plants was taken off 

 and planted out on September 11, 1905. 

 A second batch of eight plants was 

 placed out on November 21, 1905. The 

 cacao plants were set out in a field 

 occupied by seedling orange trees, 

 fifteen years old, planted at 20 feet 

 apart, each cacao plant being placed in 

 the middle of the square formed by 

 four orange trees. The soil is dark in 

 colour, easily worked, and may be 

 described as fair cacao land. Probably 

 the young cacao did not receive a fair 

 chance when planted in soil already 

 occupied by orange trees, but against 

 this must be set the advantage they 

 gained by shade from the older trees. 

 These grafted cacao plants have grown 

 very well, and now at two years and 

 four months old they are bushy plants 

 over 6 feet in height, and from 6 to 

 8 feet through the spread of branches. 

 The number of half-developed cacao 

 pods on the trees now (January, 1908) 

 averages four per tree. The manuriai 

 treatment has been three baskets of pen 

 manure annually as a mulch to help 

 the trees through the dry season. 



It is expected that the trees when 

 three years old should have yielded at 

 least one lb. of cured cacao per tree. 

 In Dominica, the Alligator cacao is a 

 delicate tree and a shy bearer. Better 

 results might probably be expected 

 from selected Forastero strains of cacao 

 grafted on Calabicillo stocks and plant- 

 ed in fields with only tannias and bana- 

 nas for shade. 



During 1906, the grafting of a hardy 

 and prolific type of Forastero cacao on 

 Calabicillo stocks was commenced. A 

 plot containing sixteen plauts of this 

 variety was planted in August, 1906. 

 These, now nearly eighteen months old, 

 are bushy plants from 4 feet to 5 feet 

 in height and are very promising. In 

 July, 1907, another plot of thirty-five 

 plauts of this cacao was started. Tan- 

 nias and Chinese bananas were planted 

 to give the necessary shade. 



The number of grafted cacao plants 

 now growing in the Dominica Botanic 

 Station is as follows :— 



Theobroma pentagona... 62 plants 

 Selected Forastero ... 94 ,, 



Total.,,156 



