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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



than the owner cared to have, lie need only cut through the cacao 

 piece one way. Planted on the lines of the plan, with 14,400 cacao 

 trees to a piece, at 800 trees to the acre, each block under cacao would 

 be equal to 4H acres. To plant a quarter million cacao trees, therefore, 

 would take seventeen or eighteen blocks, equal in all to about 835 acres, 

 the area under rubber and other crops to be regulated according to the 

 wishes of the owner. 



I do not mind how profitable a crop may be at the time of planting, and 

 what prospects there are of its continuing to be so in the future : it is always 

 best for the planter to distribute his risks and not give himself up entirely 

 to one crop. As regards the restriction of diseased areas, some such plan 

 as I have suggested would have been invaluable in centres like Trinidad 

 or Surinam. In Trinidad you often cannot tell, when walking through 

 the estate, whether you are on that of your host or on that of his neigh- 

 bour. With such methods of planting it is impossible to successfully fight 

 any epidemic. 



I cannot help feeling that the growers in Trinidad, after calling in 

 Mr. Barrett as doctor, and satisfying themselves that the health of their 

 trees is on the whole in a very bad way, tend to fall back again into the 

 old lethargic way and let matters take their own course. I say this, for 

 after having received many enquiries, often three or four in a mail, 

 as to which spraying fluid or machine I can recommend, the matter 

 seems to have stopped as soon as the enquirer sent a letter of thanks for 

 the information. So far as I can judge, no orders have been sent. When 

 I suggested to the makers of spraying machines that they should advertise 

 in my Journal, and so do their own recommendation, they all replied that 

 there was no demand for sprayers from that centre. I have had one 

 exception, however, in my friend Mr. H. T. Moors, of Samoa, who writes 

 that he has provided himself with three gallons of fluid and means to 

 give the matter of spraying an exhaustive trial. That, however, is Samoa, 

 not the West Indies. Whilst on this question I should like to add that 

 many people, or at least many labourers on an estate, seem to think that 

 when spraying the one object to aim at is to empty the receptacle as 

 speedily as possible ; I would particularly caution planters against such 

 waste, if the work is to be done thoroughly and economically. If the 

 English producing centres are to enjoy their share of the world's cacao 

 trade they must pay every attention to this most serious matter of pests. 

 Old-established centres, like Trinidad, must eradicate them, and the 

 newer ones, as the Gold Coast, must take care that they are not overrun 

 with them. If they do appear they must receive immediate and drastic 

 treatment. The loss from pests to Trinidad is enormous. Some time 

 ago I pointed out in the "West Indian Committee Circular " that, whilst 

 Sun Thoiin' had increased her output eleven times since 1888, the West 

 India Islands, in spite of a large increase in the area under cultivation, 

 barely keeps up to its average. I see that in his report Mr. Barrett calls 

 attention to the same thing, and also calculates that this means a 

 probable loss of a round million sterling a year to the island. It is 

 only prosperous, happy-go-lucky Trinidad that could stand such a loss. 

 Jt certainly does stand it and stand it very well : all the same it is a pity, 



'* fauces tin money f> go into the pocket of another nation at the 



