THE FUTURE OF CACAO PLANTING. 



193 



THE FUTURE OF CACAO PLANTING. 

 By Mr. H. Hamel Smith, Editor of " Tropical Life." 

 [Lecture delivered June 11, 1908.] 



I think it will be agreed that, until quite recently, those interested in 

 the production and shipment of cacao paid absolutely no heed to the 

 improvement of the quality and quantity of the output. Looming 

 out like a prominent shade tree down the valley of time is the well- 

 known name of Strickland, whose method of fermenting cacao has 

 grown to be admired as the classical one. Whether Strickland's method 

 is perfection I am not going to discuss, but there is no doubt that, with 

 very few exceptions, the cacao planters, ever since they first cultivated 

 Linnaeus's " Food of the Gods," put in the bean, grew the tree, picked 

 the pods, and sweated and dried the beans exactly as their fathers and 

 grandfathers did before them, and their neighbours are doing to this day. 



The light of new ideas broke like the sun across the mist from the 

 East. Although Ceylon's planters, so far as I can gather, are staunch 

 Conservatives in politics, they are unmitigated Radicals — nay, positive 

 anarchists — in agricultural matters. Like Why-Why, Andrew Lang's 

 first Radical, they let nothing pass them unquestioned, and no matter 

 how high the authority the idea may come from, they go straight to the 

 root of everything, and with chemicals, knife, and microscope examine 

 and analyse the minutest atom of the most sacred theory, until they 

 have proved its truth or falsity to their entire satisfaction, and if true, 

 whether it can be put to practical advantage. 



I am glad to say that this system of indefatigable research has spread 

 to the West Indies. Thanks to the work done by the owners of those 

 well-known names, Morris, Harrison, Fawcett, Watts, Hart, Hudson, 

 Cradwick, and many other cacao -planting experts, planters in Central 

 America and the West Indies have of late become more alive to the 

 importance of looking into the why and the wherefore of their methods. 

 Circumstances point to the general run of planters in the near future 

 paying much more attention to the following matters than they have 

 hitherto been doing. 



1. Feeding and sustaining the strength of their trees by judicious 

 manuring, so as to replace those constituents that have been removed by 

 the crops. 



2. The grafting of cacao, whereby a strong and free-yielding variety 

 will have for scion a more delicate variety with an improved output. 



3. Giving their immediate attention to, and finally exterminating 

 insects and other pests as soon as they are observed. 



4. The adoption of vacuum-dryers on those estates large enough to 

 use them with economy, or the erection of them as an independent 

 central drying factory, run perhaps on co-operative lines among the 

 smaller planters. 



VOL. XXXIV. 0 



