July  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AfSWOSf LTU R1  ST 
i7 
CACAO  : ITS  NATURAL  HISTORY, 
CULTURE  AND  PREPARATION. 
It  ia  just  possible,  indeed  probable,  that  Trinidad 
may  have  been  the  original  home  of  some  of  the 
varieties  of  the  caoao  plant.  In  any  ease  this 
valuable  vegetable  product  was  introduced  at 
early  date  from  the  adjaoent  Amerioan  continent 
into  the  West  Indian  island,  whioh  is  far  and 
away  the  most  important  soene  of  its  oulture  in 
the  world.  It  is  only  in  quality  that  Ceylon 
oompetes,  and  in  price  obtained  for  the  more 
carefully  prepared  beans.  In  quantity  we  are  no. 
where,  as  yet,  when  our  export  of  less  than  20,000 
owt.  average  is  contrasted  with  200,000  or  more, 
valued  locally  at  over  £600,000,  which  Trinidad 
sends  into  the  markets  of  the  world.  It  was  only 
natural  that  in  taking  up  the  enterprise  we  should 
at  first  trust  to  the  lessons  of  Trinidad  experience  ; 
but,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  the  Ceylon  planters 
improved  on  the  lessons  taught  them,  so  that, 
judged  by  the  test  of  price  in  the  London  market, 
the  Ceylon  cacao  “beans ’’are  the  best  and  finest 
flavoured  in  the  world.  Something  may  be  due  to 
soil  and  olimate;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  superior  quality  of  our  produot  is  mainly  owing 
to  the  care  and  scientific  skill  with  whioh  the 
seeds  are  fermented,  washed  and  dried.  In  the 
thorough  washing  of  the  seed  which  prevails  in 
Ceylon  a considerable  proportion  of  weight  is  lost, 
and  the  Trinidad  planters  contend  that  the  greater 
number  of  owts.,  for  which  they  receive  a some- 
what lower  price,  compensates  them  and  leaves 
little  iuducement  to  follow  fully  tho  Ceylon  mode 
of  preparation.  All  such  points  and  indeed  all  the 
details  conneoted^with  the  natural  history,  species  or 
varieties  of  the  plant,  its  culture  and  preparation, 
the  properties  of  the  fruit  and  its  value  as  a 
food  (food  of  the  gods  !)  are  given  in  a carefully 
prepared  and  illustrated  handbook,  prepared  by 
Mr.  J.  H.  Hart,  f.  l.  s.,  Superintendent  of  tho 
Trinidad  Royal  Botanio  Gardens.  This  gentleman, 
besides  his  experience  in  Jamaica  and  other  West 
Indian  colonies,  has  had  the  advantage  of  travel- 
ling on  the  Amerioan  continent,  and  seeing  the 
oaoao  plant  in  its  native  habitat  in  Venezuela 
and  other  places  in  which  it  is  indigenous.  Added 
to  all  this  are  the  speoial  advantages  for  research 
and  oorreot  conclusions  enjoyed  by  him  in  the 
position  he  occupies  in  Trinidad ; and  it  will  be 
acknowledged  that  few  men  could  be  better  quali- 
fied than  Mr.  Hart  for  the  task  h9  has  undertaken 
and  performed  so  well.  The  book  in  its  printing 
and  get-up  does  great  oredit  to  the  Port  of  Spain 
Government  Printing  Offioe.  The  illustrations 
are  faithful  and  well  executed  portraits  of  the  objects 
intended  to  be  represented.  On  the  front  cover 
there  is  a longitudinal  section  of  a cacao  pod,  show- 
ing the  mode  in  whioh  the  seeds  are  embedded  in 
pulp  and  mucilage,  ani  at  the  end  there  is  a pioture 
of  the  oacaohook  used  for  picking  the  pods,  which 
is  described  as  follows  : — 
The  instrument  is  made  of  a shape  to  be  used 
either  by  a push,  a pull,  or  by  a side  cut,  and 
when  kept  well  sharp,  aad  affixed  to  a light 
bamboo  rod,  serves  admirably  for  collecting  the 
Eods  from  the  higher  branches  of  the  cacao  tree, 
ut  a sharp  cutlass  or  knife  is  used  for  taking  the 
pods  from  that  portion  of  the  tree  within  reach  of 
the  arm.  Care  should  always  be  taken  not  to  cut 
too  close  to  the  “ cushion”  or  point  where  the 
Cacao  pod  is  borne,  as  the  tree  presents  a suc- 
cession of  flowers  and  fruit  from— at  or  near— the 
same  point  each  season,  and  if  the  part  is  wounded 
3 
by  a cutting  instrument  or  bruised  by  a blunt  one 
the  supply  of  flowers,  and  consequently  fruit,  will 
be  reduced  during  the  following  season. 
But  the  chief  interest  of  the  reader  of  tho  book 
will  centre  in  a lithographed  sheet  of  portraits  of 
the  pods  and  beans,  with  sections  and  measure- 
ments of  the  four  great  varieties  recognized  in 
Trinidad  : — 
No.  1.  Criollo  (synonymous  with  creole  or 
indigenous),  colours  red  and  yellow. 
No.  2.  Forastero,  „ ,, 
No.  3 Amelonudo,  ,,  ,, 
No.  4.  Calabacillo,  ,,  ,, 
Mr.  Hart  thus  describes  the  representations  of  the 
different  kiuds : — 
Illustrations. 
In  selecting  the  Cacao  pods  for  our  Illustrations 
we  have  been  at  considerable  trouble  to  get  what 
must  be  considered  a fair  type  of  each  variety  and 
not  extreme  forms. 
No.  1 represents  a fair  sample  of  Red  and  Yellow 
Criollo.  As  will  be  seen  this  is  always  more  bottle- 
necked and  pointed  than  any  of  the  other  forms. 
The  section  is  drawn  from  an  actual  section  of  the 
pod  represented,  cut  from  the  centre  and  laid  upon 
the  paper.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  outer  covering 
is  very  thin  in  comparison  with  other  varieties, 
and  this  forms  one  of  its  chief  characteristics.  The 
measurement  of  the  pods  may  be  taken  from  the 
scale.  This  variety  certainly  produces  the  finest 
quality  of  Cacao  produced  in  the  West  Indies. 
No.  2 shows  the  character  of  the  Forastero  varie- 
ties. The  Red  variety  as  a rule  shows  a more 
worted  appearance  than  the  Yellow.  As  shewn  by 
the  section  also  drawn  from  actual  section  of  the 
fruits,  the  thickness  of  the  skin  is  rather  greater 
than  in  Criollo.  This  is  sometimes  called  the  ten 
“ furrowed”  Cacao,  while  the  smoother  varieties  are 
called  the  five  “furrowed,”  as  the  intermediate  fur- 
row all  but  disappears  in  the  larger  proportion  of  the 
pods  of  that  class.  The  furrows  are  much  more  de- 
cided in  Foiastero  than  in  Criollo,  as  will  be  noticed 
by  the  depth  shewn  in  the  sections  of  both  the  Red 
and  Yellow  varieties. 
No.  3 as  will  be  seen,  there  is  a wide  margin  of 
difference  between  No.  3 and  the  two  preceding 
numbers,  but  in  the  text  it  will  be  found  that  this  is 
covered  by  the  insertion  of  the  ordinary  Red  and 
Yellow  Forastero  as  Nos.  5 and  6.  There  is  really 
a large  number  of  forms  included  between  these 
two  types,  but  none  however,  which  are  considered 
of  sufficient  prominence  to  be  treated  as  a typical 
variety.  The  Amelonado  is  conspicuous  by  its  thick- 
skinned,  smooth  and  five-furrowed  pod,  but  its  seeds 
are  almost  identical  with  those  of  Nos.  3 and  4,  except 
when  met  with  as  an  extreme  form  approaching 
Calabacillo,  into  which  it  frequently  runs  upon  the 
same  tree. 
No.  4 shows  “ Calabacillo  ” Red  and  Yellow.  The 
pods  are  small,  smooth,  thick-skinned,  and  contain 
little  else  but  flattened  beans,  small,  and  containing 
a large  amount  of  the  bitter  principle  and  purple 
colouring — slightly  rounder  pods  should  perhaps  have 
been  selected  to  represent  faithfully  the  character 
of  this  type, 
The  figures  are  not  ideal  drawings  of  wliat  we 
consider  to  be  a type,  but  are  drawn  from  individual 
pods  of  the  major  oypes  collected  from  an  estate  in 
one  of  the  best  districts  of  the  Island. 
The  varieties  are  fully  described  in  Mr.  Hart’s 
chapter  on  the  “ Botany  and  Nomenclature  of 
C ioao,  with  Description  of  Typical  Forme,  &c.,&o.,” 
which  we  have  previously  extracted  from  the  Trini- 
dad Agricultural  Record  iu  which  it  was  separately 
published.  There  are  several  species  of  the  genus, 
whioh  is  a native  of  tropical  regions  extending 
from  Mexico  to  Brazil,  all  said  to  be  distinct  from 
the  cultivated  kinds,  which  have  doubtless  altered 
much  in  the  processes  of  culture  and  hybridization. 
In  America  the  indigenous  trees  grow  to  a height 
of  forty  feet,  but  the  usual  size  in  Trinidad  (and 
in  Ceylon)  is  about  eighteen  feet  in  height  and 
