Edible Products. 



360 



f June 1907. 



The crop of cacao and the deliveries of Santo Domingo have been as follows : 

 1906 ... ... ... ... 32,011,460 lbs. 



1905 ... ... ... ... 28,190,178 „ 



1903 ... ... .. ... 17,254,125 „ 



1900 ... ... ... ... 13,148,415 „ 



The great increase of production also in this country is very remarkable. 

 The governments in all these countries are meeting fairly the wishes of everyone 

 who wants to buy or rent land by offering large and uncultivated acreages at 

 moderate prices and on easy conditions. 



We hear also from our Brazil friends that the production of cacao during 

 last year amouuted to 381,859 bags against 282,091 bags in 1905, 



This review of official figures proves, and will convince the manufacturers 

 and consumers of, the impossibility of keeping in continuance the present high 

 prices asked for cacao. It is but commonsense that the produce of large crops 

 can only pass into consumption if cheap products can be manufactured for the 

 working people. The well situated classes are tired of cocoa long ago ; an increase 

 of consumption is only possible if the middle class and the poor people use this 

 beverage and the respective products made of sound cacao beans. 



CRIOLLO CACAO BUDDED ON FORASTERO. 



A very important step has been taken in Jamaica, one that if successful 

 may lead to great changes in the cacao-producing world, for up to now every one 

 has been more or less opposed to the idea. 



According to the annual report of the Board of Agriculture in Jamaica the 

 old trees that were blown down or injured by the hurricane have been mostly 

 budded with Criollo buds. This system of budding is recommended in cases where 

 trees are not bearing well, bearing inferior cocoa, or have their main trunks injured. 

 In such cases two strong shoots should be encouraged from near the ground, and 

 a bud of an approved kind put on one of the shoots. 



The late Mr. James Epps, Junior, whose untimely death in Jamaica every one 

 regretted, was at tbe time engaged in closely studyingjthe possibilities of grafting and 

 budding a delicate variety on a more hardy one, says, "Tropical Life," but he com- 

 plained of the indifference of the planters on the point, those who paid any attention 

 to the theory being inclined to ridicule it through ignorance. Mr. Epps was proposing 

 to bring Nicaragua cacao {Th. Pentagona) in particular for grafting on to Trinidad 

 cacao, and had he lived would have carried out many experiments on his model 

 estate in the Petivalle, Trinidad. At his private house near London Mr. 

 Epps had several cacao trees of a considerable age, which, after several un- 

 successful attempts, he not only got to bear, but actually cured the cocoa and 

 kept it in his museum, 



THE INCREASE IN TEA CONSUMPTION. 



Messrs. Brooke, Bond, and Co., Limited, wholesale tea dealers, have published 

 the following report on tea consumption during the past year :— 



In our annual letter last year we noticed that consumption was increasing 

 almost everywhere, but that the United Kingdom was an exception, owing to the 

 heavy duty. This year it is our pleasant task to state that consumption has 

 increased in the United Kingdom, as well as abroad. It has not yet reached the 

 point at which it stood in 1900, before the war tax was imposed, but it is slightly 

 higher than last year. 



The habit of drinking tea is certainly gaining ground on the Continent. In 

 the fashionable watering places in France, tea is to be had at most of the con- 

 fectioners ' shops, and is drunk not only by the English and American visitors, but 



