IIS 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 
fAUCUST I, 1893. 
CULTlVA'tlON OF COCOA IN CUBA. 
The Frenah Ooneul at Santiago, in a report 
to bis Government, Bays that the cultivation of 
eoooa is olosel)' connected in Cuba with that of collee, 
and is Carrie d on at the eame time and on 
thf same p.roperties. In fact, every coffee 
planter, il the nature of the Boil permits him to 
do so, sows between the rows of young plants 
coooa' berries, which will produce tree? that will 
continue to hear crops when the coffee plants 
have ceased to piroduoe. It is impossible to dis- 
cover the precise date at which the cul ivation 
of cocoa was introduced into the island, but as 
this plant was cultivated in Mexico and New 
Grenada before tl'e Conquest, it cannot loi.g have 
remained unknowui to the Spanish colonists in 
Cuba, who kept Aip constant communioatico with 
the possesBioDB oi" Spain on the American Don- 
tinent. It was no t, however, until about 1830 
that several planters made an effort to in- 
troiluce cocoa into Onba, and at this time planta- 
tions of a certain importance were formid at 
Figueroa and elsewhere. Unfortunately, for 
many years the cultivation of the cocoa remained 
unprofitable, in consequence of the small demand 
and the low selling priifie; The price slowly rose how- 
ever, the number ot .cocoa plantations inotea ed, 
and by 1860 every, coffee plantation in Cuba combined 
the cultivation of tlie cocoa, if the naiure 
of the soil permitted it. The cocoa tree 
lives longer than the coffee plant, but it is much 
slower in producing. It tikes, in fact, five or six 
years before the newly planted cocoa begins to bear 
fruit ; it is at its full 'ftearing at the end of tbe 
seventh year, and begins' to decline at the end of 
fifteen, but without oeasfcEg to bear ; on some old 
estHtes there exist cocoa trees of upwards of fifty 
years df age, which still produce. The cocoa is 
usually planted in sprini?, by preference directly 
after rain; an interval of 10 to 12 fett is usually 
left between the plants. The kinds which are 
roost usEd are those of Caracas, Guayaquil, and 
the Creole variety, whioli latter is said to come 
from Trinidad. The Oaraoae and Guayaquil varieties 
bear the finest fruit, but they are not so hardy 
and do not bear so well in Cuba as the Creole 
variety- The Caracas, however, fetches the best 
prices. The crop is gathered from the month of 
October to the month of August. During this 
pwriod the trees are covered with blossom, and 
little bunches of ripe and half-ripe pods. Tha crop 
may therefore be gathered day by day, but 
as it is difiScult to obtain the laborers neces- 
sary for the work, the owners generally pre- 
fer to harvest monthly or fortnightly. To pre- 
vent fraud as much as possible, the laborers 
are paid by piece-work and receive wages cal- 
culated upon the number of measures of fruit 
which they pick. There is no harm done by 
leaving the pods on the bushes for one, two, or 
tven four weeks, except in the Fpring, when if 
possible, they should be picked at shorter in- 
tervals. The cultivation of cocoa, like that of 
coffee, is undertaken with the aid of colonists, who 
are hired by the day. The day is calculated from 
6 a.m. to 4 p.m., for which time a man is paid 
Kbout28. 6d., if food is not included, and about 6d. 
less if it is. The colonists are farmers to whom 
the proprietor of a coffee plantation has let a piece 
of ground, with the right to cultivate fruit or 
vegetables, but with the obligation of yielding the 
planter half or two-thirda of the cocoa gathered on 
the same piece of ground. Cocoa is weeded in the 
same way as coffee, but as the coooa tree sometimes 
grows to a height of 15 or 20 feet, it is not so much 
troubled by coarse weet^s as the ooff'-e is. The 
spread of weeds is moreover, cheokei in 
coooa plantations by tbe continual fall of 
leaves, which soon cover the groacd. Tbe 
coooa is pruned the same way ap the coffee 
tree, with a view to (Tevent each plant growiDg too 
high and mingling its branuheb with those of its 
neighbouiB. It is cbCcstary falways to take great oaxti 
to remove the Euckfis which are contiouBlly bring 
thrown up from the foot of the tree. As sood ae the 
pods are ripe, they are picked and broken on tbe 
epot. The berries, which are full of a outiooe syrup 
are measured and piled up in heaps, covered with 
leaves. These heap.: arc allowed to feimeot for two 
or three days, the fermentation being regulated 
every morning by a reariangement of tbe heaps. 
This procef^B softtns the bitterness of the berry, 
destroys the gum which curroun4e it, and enables 
the cocoa to dry more rapidly. Moreover, tbe color 
of the terry depends on the proper conJuot of the 
fermentaiion. Cocoa, like coffee, is then spread for 
two or Ihr^e dtys on a sort of platform made o( 
cemented etcnes, called a tecadero, there to be 
exposed to the sun and dried. As soon as the 
cocoa is thoroughly drv, it is rubbed, cleaned ot 
all the detritus which has pather^'d upon it, 
placed into hogs, <>aob containing about 106 
ib. of coroA, and e ut on the ba'-ks of mules to 
the market at Santiai/o. The conditions of trang- 
port are the same as in the caee of coffee. Each 
mule c&iri'.B two sacks, or 2101b. of cocoa, and 
travels ten leagues every day. Each group of 
twenty mules is led by a capatax and two watch- 
men, and travels by night to avoid tbe beat. The 
cotduQior, or arrUro, is responsible for the arrival 
of the convoy, which is paid at the rate of 6d. 
per mile and per mule, or from 5b. 6d. per day's 
journey of ten leagues. I'art of the ooooa prown 
in Cuba is consumed in the island, bnt <he ber- 
ries of the finest qaslity are sent ab'oad, and 
generally to Barcelona. France imports no Cuban 
cocoa whatever. The Cuban occoi is, says the 
French Concul, cxceidinglj fine in quality, and it 
appears strange that there is no market f.r it 
in France. The price of coco.\ in Cuba vatics 
from 12 to 10 pibSttes the quinlil, and suraelimes, 
but rarely, rises to 18 piaotres. The Oarttoas 
berries are sold one piastre dearer than tbe other 
varieties. The Consul iiays it would be difilioull 
to foretell the future of cocoa cultivation in < aba. 
Many cocoa plantations were destroyed durirg 
the civil war. but cocoa has suffered on the whole 
much Irss than coffee from tbe efleo's. In 
many of the largest plantations in the island, 
the cultivation of c> ffee is now entirely abandoner\ 
and the cocoa platils only are depended upon fcr a 
return. Many planters, moreover, prefer coooa 
planting, because for small planting it is an indus- 
try which requires much less outlay than coffee. — 
Journal of the Society 0/ Arts. 
The Preparation or Gkiphite. — The action of 
nitric-acid on graphite, to which H. Luz' has drawn 
attention, is s ateJ to be of considerable practical 
importance. The mccbai,ical preparat'on ol gra- 
phite is not perfectly satiDfuctory iu its results, 
and the Frodir me.hoJ has also its disadvatitaets, 
in that it leaves a graphita eontaiaiijg hydrogen 
a' d oxygen snd resembling lamp-black rather than 
graphite. Luzi moistens the graphite with con- 
centrated nitric acid, and then ignites immediately. 
A number cf fibres then form on the graphite 
which largely increases in volume. These fibr''B 
are chemically unchanged graphite, and are so light 
(bat they floau on water, whilst the inorganic 
oonetituents liberated by this Changs of volume sink 
to ihs bottom, Tbe nitric acid can be re-gollected. 
— Indian Engi7ieer. 
