Sept,  i,  1892.] 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
219 
between  the  rows  of  young  plants  cocoa  berries, 
which  will  produce  trees  that  will  continue  to  bear 
crops  when  the  coffee  plants  have  ceased  to  produce. 
It  is  impossible  to  discover  the  precise  date  at  which 
the  cultivation  of  cocoa  was  introduced  into  the  island, 
but  as  this  plant  was  cultivated  in  Mexico  and  in 
New  Grenada  before  the  Conquest,  it  cannot  long 
have  remained  unknown  to  the  Spanish  colonists  in 
Cuba,  who  kept  up  constant  communication  with 
the  possession  of  Spain  on  the  American  continent. 
It  was  not,  however,  until  about  1830  that  several 
planters  made  an  effort  to  introduce  cocoa  into  Cuba, 
and  at  this  time  plantations  of  a certain  importance 
were  formed  at  Figueroa  and  elsewhere.  U nfortunately 
for  many  years  the  cultivation  of  the  cocoa  remained 
unprofitable,  in  consequence  of  the  small  demand 
and  the  low  selling  pice.  The  price  slowly 
rose  however,  the  number  of  cocoa  plantations  in- 
creased, and  by  1860  every  coffee  plantation  in 
Cuba  combined  the  cultivation  of  the  cocoa,  if  the 
nature  of  the  soil  permitted  it.  The  cocoa-tree  lives 
longer  than  the  coffee  plant,  but  it  is  much  slower 
in  producing.  It  takes  in  fact  five  or  six  years  before 
the  newly  planted  cocoa  begins  to  bear  fruit ; it  is 
at  its  full  bearing  at  the  end  of  the  year,  and  begins 
to  decline  at  the  end  of  fifteen,  but  without  ceasing 
to  bear;  on  some  old  estates  there  exist  cocoa-trees 
of  upwards  of  fifty  years  of  age,  which  still  produce. 
The  cocoa  is  usually  planted  in  the  spring,  by 
preference  directly  after  rain;  an  interval  of  from 
ten  to  twelve  feet  is  usually  left  between  the  plants. 
The  kinds  which  are  most  used  are  those  of  Caracas, 
Guayaquil,  and  the  Creole  variety,  which  latter  is  said 
to  come  from  Trinidad.  The  Caracas  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. 
Tne  Caracas,  however,  fetches  the  bests  prices.  The 
crop  is  gathered  from  the  month  of  October  to  the 
month  of  August.  Duiing  this  period  the  trees  are 
covered  with  blossom,  andlittlebunchesof  ripe  and  half- 
ripe  pods.  The  crop  may  therefore  be  gathered  day  by 
day,  but  as  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  the  labourers 
necessary  for  the  work,  the  owners  generally  prefer 
to  harvest  monthly  or  fortnightly.  To  prevent  fraud 
as  much  as  possible,  the  labourers  are  paid  by  piece- 
work, and  receive  wages  calculated  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  even  four  week-i,  except  in  the  spring, 
when,  if  possible,  they  should  be  picked  at  shorter 
intervals.  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  about 
2s.  6d.  if  food  is  not  included,  and  about  sixpence 
less  if  it  is.  The  colonists  are  farmers  to  whom  the 
proprietor  of  a cocoa  plantation  has  let  a piece  of 
ground,  with  the  right  to  cultivate  fruit  or  vege- 
tables, but  with  the  obligation  of  yielding  the 
planter  half  or  two-thirds  of  the  cocoa  gathered  on 
the  same  piece  of  ground.  Cocoa  is  weeded  in  the 
same  way  as  coffee,  but  as  the  cocoa-tree  sometimes 
grows  to  a height  of  fifteen  or  twenty  feet,  it  is  not 
so  much  troubled  by  coarse  weeds  as  the  coffee  is.  The 
spread  of  weeds  is,  moreover,  checked  in  cocoa 
plantations  by  the  continual  fall  of  leaves,  which 
soon  cover  the  ground.  The  cocoa  is  pruned  in  the 
same  way  as  the  coffee-tree,  with  a view  to  prevent 
each  plant  growing  too  high  and  mingling  its  branches 
with  those  of  its  neighbours.  It  is  necessary  always 
to  take  gr^at  care  to  remove  the  suckers  which  are 
continually  being  thrown  up  from  the  foot  of  the  tree. 
As  soon  as  the  pods  are  ripe,  they  are  pricked  and 
broken  on  the  spot.  The  berries,  which  are  full  of 
a curious  syrup,  are  measured  and  piled  up  in  heaps, 
covered  with  leaves.  These  heaps  are  allowed  to 
ferment  for  two  or  three  days,  the  fermentation 
being  regulated  every  morning  by  a rearrangement 
of  the  heaps.  This  process  softens  the  bitterness 
of  the  berry,  destroys  the  gum  which  surrounds  it, 
and  enables  the  cocoa  to  dry  more  rapidly.  More- 
over, the  colour  of  the  berry  depends  on  the  proper  j 
conduct  of  the  fermentation.  Cocoa,  like  coffee,  is 
then  spread  for  two  or  three  days  on  a sort  of  plat-  I 
form  made  of  cemented  stones,  called  a secadero-, 
there  to  be  exposed  to  the  sun  and  dried.  As  soon 
as  the  cocoa  is  thoroughly  dry,  it  is  rubbed,  cleaned 
of  all  the  detritus  which  has  gathered  upon  it,  placed 
into  bags,  each  containing  about  105  lb.  of  cocoa, 
and  sent  on  the  backs  of  mules  to  the  market  at 
Santiago.  The  conditions  of  transport  are  the 
same  as  in  the  case  of  coffee.  Bach  mule  carries 
two  sacks,  or  210  lb.  of  cocoa,  and  travels  ten 
leagues  every  day.  Bach  group  of  twenty  mules  is 
led  by  a cajjataz  and  two  watchmen,  and  travels 
by  night  to  avoid  the  heat.  The  conductor,  or 
arriero,  is  responsible  for  the  arrival  of  the  convoy, 
which  is  paid  at  the  rate  of  fivepence  a mile,  and 
per  mule,  or  from  five  shillings  to  five  shillings  and 
sixpence  per  day’s  journey  of  twelve  leagues.  Part 
of  the  cocoa  grown  in  Cuba  is  consumed  in  the 
island,  but  the  berries  of  the  finest  quality  are  sent 
abroad,  and  generally  to  Barcelona.  France  imports 
no  f 'uban  cocoa  whatever.  The  Cuban  cocoa  is,  says 
the  French  Consul,  exceedingly  fine  in  quality,  and  it 
appears  strange  that  there  is  no  market  for  it  in 
France.  The  price  of  cocoa  in  Cuba  varies  from 
twelve  to  sixteen  piastres  the  quintal,  and  sometimes, 
but  rarely,  rises  to  eighteen  piastres.  The  Caracas 
berries  are  sold  one  piastre  dearer  than  the  other 
varieties.  The  Consul  says  it  would  be  difficult  to 
foretell  the  future  of  cocoa  cultivation  in  Cuba. 
Many  cocoa  plantations  were  destroyed  during  the 
civil  war,  but  cocoa  has  suffered  on  the  whole  much 
less  than  coffee  from  the  effects.  In  many  of  the 
largest  plantations  in  the  island  the  cultivation  of 
coffee  is  now  entirely  abandoned,  and  the  cocoa  plants 
only  are  depended  upon  for  a return.  Many  planters 
moreover  prefer  cocoa  growing,  because  for  small 
capitalists  it  is  an  industry  which  requires  much 
less  outlay  than  coffee. — Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts. 
COTTON  SEED  MEAL  AND  HULLS  AS  FOOD 
FOR  LIVE  STOCK, 
KY  ALEXANDER  P.  HULL 
The  history  of  cotton  seed  for  the  past  twenty 
years  has  been  one  unceasing  wonder.  No  othe1’ 
product  of  our  soil  has  ever  developed  into  such  a 
many-sided  material  before,  and  every  few  months 
a new  use  for  some  product  of  cotton  seed  is  dis- 
covered. Perhaps  petroleum  is  the  only  substance 
which  has  ever  paralleled  cotton  seed  in  the  history 
of  its  manufacture  into  useful  articles  of  commerce. 
Twenty-five  years  ago  cotton  seed,  except  as  a fer- 
tilizer for  cotton-growing  lands,  was  considered  almost 
totally  worthless,  and  the  annual  product,  about 
3,500,000  tons,  was  allowed  to  a great  extent  to  go 
to  absolute  waste,  generally  being  left  to  rot  around 
the  gin  houses.  Then  oil  began  to  be  manufactured 
from  them,  and  to-day  more  than  1,000,000  tons  is 
used  by  the  oil  mills,  and  the  Southern  farmers 
receive  about  $13,000,000  for  the  seed  they  dispose 
of  to  the  mills.  Now,  this  oil  is  one  of  the  every 
day  articles  of  commerce,  entering  into  a thousand 
products  which  need  in  their  composition  a pure 
vegetable  fat.  Next,  a new  wonder  came  to  pass. 
It  was  discovered  that  after  thirty-five  gallons  of 
oil  had  been  extracted  from  a ton  of  seed,  the 
remainder  was  a better  fertilizer  than  the  cotton 
seed  before.  The  hulls  were  used  as  fuel  and  were 
burned  under  the  oil  mill  boiler,  and  it  was  found 
that  the  ashes  of  the  hulls  were  of  the  highest  value, 
as  potash,  and  the  refuse  of  the  whole  could  be 
manufactured  into  the  purest  soap  stock  to  carry  to 
the  toilet  perfumes  of  the  best  manufacturers.  So 
much  in  preface  for  cotton  seed  in  general.  One 
would  naturally  suppose  that  its  uses  had  all  been 
discovered,  and  investigation  has  reached  a final 
limit  But  no,  a new  use  was  discovered  that  may 
turn  the  South  into  as  fine  a cattle  country  a a 
the  far  famed  prairies  of  the  West.  This  last 
discovery  was  that  (he  hard  brown  hulls  mixed 
with  cotton  seed  meal  made  the  finest  possible 
feed  for  cattle,  and  at  the  same  time,  th  ■ cheapest. 
For  the  past  year  or  two  this  mixture  of  meal  and 
hulls  has  been  used  to  a considerable  extent  in  the 
