THE FUTURE OF CACAO PLANTING. 



209 



in applied manures, and that phosphoric acid and lime in the form of 

 either basic slag or bone, but not in the form of superphosphate, gives 

 good results on all soils, and good results have also been obtained from 

 the use of air- slaked lime alone. 



I can fully confirm the remarks of our lecturer to-day on the subject of 

 the indifference of planters to improved methods of cultivation, manuring, 

 and curing. As agricultural instructor, under Sir Daniel Morris, for seven 

 years, I found that disease was our best friend in shaking this indifference. 

 A planter seldom woke up to high cultivation until he was thoroughly 

 frightened by loss of income from diseased trees. As a consequence, even 

 the severest disease attacks on cacao in St. Lucia have all proved a blessing 

 in disguise, and the diseased estates either are, or will be soon, much more 

 productive than they otherwise would have been. Therefore I am not 

 at all anxious at the present reports of disease from Trinidad ; it is, as 

 Mr. Barrett graphically puts it, "up to you gentlemen" to let the trees 

 die or restore them to health and larger crops, and the greater the scare 

 the more beneficial the results. 



I am glad to see the question of grafted cacao has been brought under 

 discussion by our lecturer to-day. It is a matter which interests me 

 specially. It lies for the practical planter in a nutshell, the kernel of 

 which is : I can plant a selected seedling, six months old, from a bamboo 

 pot at a cost of about 1^. ; on the other hand, it will cost me anything 

 from Is. to 2s. per plant grafted. In one case the cost of plants for an 

 acre of cacao at 16 feet apart is 20s., and, on the other hand, the cost of 

 grafted plants per acre may run from £10 to £20. Now, the reason why 

 there is not such a thing as an acre of grafted cacao in the West Indies, 

 or perhaps in the world, is that the practical planter has hitherto been 

 unable to lay his hands on any variety of cacao that is so pre-eminently 

 lucrative over other varieties as to make it worth his while to say, " I 

 cannot afford to grow any other variety than this particular one," as 

 a market gardener might say of pears or apples, or a sugar planter of 

 seedling canes. We were always able to find a superior bean with 

 inferior vigour in Criollo or Pentagona, and we were always able to find 

 an inferior bean with superior vigour in Amelonado, and we could find 

 these two qualities meeting at a point of mediocrity in certain sub- 

 varieties of Forastero, but from the £ s. d. point of view there was not 

 much in these differences of quality and quantity, and 95 per cent, of 

 West Indian planters said, " I prefer a vigorous and productive tree with 

 a low quality bean," and I think they were right. 



Some ten years ago I perceived that the production of a single cacao 

 tree combining high quality, high yield, and high vigour would revolu- 

 tionize cacao planting throughout the world, and I set myself to produce 

 that tree, not by high manuring, or methods inapplicable to ordinary 

 estates, but by approved principles of cross-fertilization. My experiments 

 so far have succeeded in the production of twenty-five cacao trees, now 

 bearing their first pods at three years old. These are unique in vigour 

 and quality, and promise to increase the average yield of cacao from 50 per- 

 cent, to 100 per cent., and consequently the profits of the cacao planter 

 by that much ; the average net return of dried cacao from each pod is 

 double that of ordinary varieties of cacao, being 2\ oz. per pod. The 



vol. xxxiv. r 



