Dec - 1906 481 Edible Products. 



would be disturbed as little as possible. It may be asserted that the removal 

 of these newly-opened flowers would probably lead to a more prolific appearance 

 of flowers at a subsequent date, but when one considers that an average 

 tree produces only about sixty to eighty mature fruits in the whole year, the 

 procedure adopted cannot be expected to greatly alter the flower periodicity in 

 question. Not more than 0*2 to 4 per cent of the flowers produced on a cacao 

 estate planted 12x12 feet and yielding 3 cwt. of cured cacao per acre, per year, 

 develop into mature fruits; they are easily detached when in full bloom or 

 after withering. The number of flowers produced in the year 1903 varied from 178 

 on tree number 5,725, to 33,534 on tree number 5,782. The average number of flowers 

 produced, per tree, for 1903 was 5,660, equal to If million per acre. In order to show 

 the variability, the following figures are quoted for six selected trees :— 



TABLE SHOWING THE FLOWER PERIODICITY OF SIX SELECTED CACAO TREES 



January 

 February . 

 March 

 April 

 May 

 June 

 July 

 August 

 September . 

 October 

 November .. 

 December . 



Total 



The following table gives (1) the to^al number of flowers produced on 

 the forty-two trees under observation ; (2) the monthly average of flowers per 

 tree for the year 1903 :— 





DURING 1903. 









Tree 



Tree 



Tree 



Tree 



Tree 



Tree 



No. 71. 



No. 5,786. 



No. 5,782. 



No. 5,768. 



No. 5,798. 



No. 5434. 



67 



65 



165 



113 



127 



43 



388 



245 



353 



34 



17 



7 



1,992 



372 



4,269 



479 



704 



91 



1,292 



438 



4,578 



334 



1,428 



33 



2,978 



2,439 



7,050 



1,507 



7,(505 



641 



1,576 



756 



1,531 



150 



495 



144 



1,950 



1,829 



3,509 



272 



476 



123 



1,391 



442 



2,148 



214 



193 



97 



1,285 



423 



3,778 



595 



308 



60 



1,246 



755 



3,376 



445 



89 



36 



1,192 



496 



1,639 



232 



63 



15 



998 



944 



1,138. 



276 



52 



26 



16,355 



9,204 



33,534 



4,651 



11,457 



1,316 







Total Flowers 



Average No. of 







for forty-two 



flowers per 







trees. 



tree. 



January 





4,281 



102 



February 





4,616 



109 



March 





25,562 



608 



April 





18,616 



443 



May 





71,839 



1,710 



June 





14,982 



356 



July 





21,811 



519 



August ... 





15,347 



365 



September 





21,124 



503 



October... 





17,191 



409 



November • 





11,080 



264 



December 





11,556 



275 





Total 



238,005 





FLOWER PERIODICITY FOR 1904. 



The observations were continued on the same trees as in 1S03, and the 

 following are the records showing (1) the total number of flowers produced on the 

 forty-two trees under observation ; (2) the monthly average of flowers per tree 

 during 1904 :— 



