CACAO OR COCOA. 



17 



If they arc much exposed to its rays, tlieir brandies are scattered, 

 crack, and the tree dies. They are also infested with worms, 

 which gnaw the bark all around, then attack the interior and 

 destroy them. The only remedy which has hitherto been found, 

 is to employ people to kill these worms, which are deposited by a, 

 small, scaly winged insect, which gnaws the tree; as soon as it 

 hears the approach of its destroyers, it lets itself fall, and trusts 

 to its wings for safety. 



The color of this insect is a mixture of ash color and white. 

 If pressed, it emits a sound something similar to the noise of 

 water thrown on a very hot substance. It has two small horns 

 on its head, the points of which are directed upwards. It is so 

 lively that, even when the head is separated from the body, it is a 

 long time in dying. To deposit its progeny it makes small holes in 

 tlie tree. 



At the commencement of the winter, or rainy season, another 

 worm makes its appearance, which devours the leaves of the young 

 cacao plant. This species of worm is called goaseme, and they 

 are in some years so abundant, that all the people of the plantation 

 are solely employed in destroying them. This worm is four 

 inches in length, and of the thickness of a finger. It is some- 

 times called angaripola, or Indian, on account of the vivacity of 

 its colors. It is believed that these worms are mediately pro- 

 duced by other large worms in the earth, from which are engen- 

 dered butterflies, who lay their eggs on the leaves of the cacao. 

 These eggs are full of small worms, which feed on the leaves 

 of the cacao, and appear in clusters of the size of a shilling. 

 They are sought and destroyed with great attention, as they occa- 

 sion considerable damage. Those which escape lodge themselves 

 in the earth, and in the succeeding year are changed into butter- 

 flies. At the time when the worm makes its appearance, it is 

 necessary to make fires, which should not be so large as to injure 

 the cacao, yet sufficient to attract and burn the butterfly. 



The plantations of cacao in the valley of Tuy, the quarters of 

 Marrin, Cuba, Sabana, Ocumare, San Francis, &c., are subject to 

 another species of worm called rasquilla. It multiplies in the 

 dry seasons. 



Tiiere are small insects, called by the Spaniards accerredores, of 

 the same figure with those which eat the bark of the cacao, but 

 larger and of a blackish colour. They feed on the branches of 

 the tree ; are alwa3^s found upon those branches which they 

 have cut ; and the evil can only be obviated by killing them. 



The worms called vachacos occasion also much damage. They 

 eat the leaf and the flower. To destroy them it is necessary to 

 seek them in their nests in the earth. Water is thrown on 

 the spot, and stirred, as in making mortar. Ey this means their 

 young are crushed, and the evil is diminished, if it be not entirely 

 removed. 



A parasitical plant often attaches itself to a branch of the 

 cacao tree which it covers over and causes to wither, by nourish- 



c 



