616 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[March 1, 1901. 
ahead, and in our endeavours to avoid Scylla it 
would be well at tlie f-anie time to have a care 
of Charybdis. 
Thus a tree hearing at the rate of 5 cwt per 
acre — and tliis is surely a low estimate in the 
event of successful pollination— should yield about 
50 average-sized pods per annum. But this is 
reckoning 300 trees per ac;e. 
It is njt probable that the average Ceylon soil 
will stand the drain of 5 cwt per acre for very 
long, therefore systematic manuring is bouml to 
be more or less generally adopted, sooner or later. 
Nor can it be expected, however niucli it may be 
hoped, that so delicate a plant, as the chocolate 
tree has proved itself to be, will absorb and con- 
tinue healthfully to assimilate the coneentrated 
nourishment of impoverished soil highly impreg- 
nated with stimulants. Moreover, the best arti- 
ficial manure for cacao has yet to be named. 
Ceylon planters have only to look about them 
to be fully assured of the fact that 20 to 25 
years at a remunera;tive rate of yield, say 3 cwt. 
per acre, and a bundled trees for every hundred- 
weight, should be the outside life-limit of 
the cacao-tiee. It is useless to point to individ- 
ual trees, whose locality is an open secret, whose 
age may l)e stated at 30 or 40 years, and whose 
fecundity is astonishing. The comparison fails (1) 
because the individual tree in question is not one 
of a number of others planted at say, 12 
feet by 12 feet ; (2) because cacao so planted 
will have been treated far more drastically than 
the solitary tree which bears so munificently ; and 
(3) because, in the case of Forestero (to which 
these points more especially apply), there is not 
in the whole island a field of any useful extent 
planted up with only one particular variety. 
Sucli trees are altogether exceptional. So that 
every 20 to 25 years the estate will need to be 
renewed. For canker will help. 
Now,- the lower a tree, the cheaper the crop- 
gathering; therefore suckering will continue in 
vogue. But the tree having been heavily manured 
there will be an abundance of "suckers," and 
this means extra expense. But as the tree \\ ill 
achieve a great spread, this need not be taken 
into consideration, for then 300 trees per acre 
will become an impossibility. Probably 150 trees 
per acre would be nearer the mark. 
In order to obtain 5 cwts. per acre from 150 
trees, each tree will need to bear 100 pods, and 
there will probably be no decrease in the expense 
of manure. Being set further apart the trees are 
likely to live longer, however ; and this is already 
a big step in the right direction. 
To qualify this I am personally acquainted 
(and concerned) with fields of Forestero cacao 
whose trees have an average perimeter of 25 ft., 
and they are not yet at their maximum. 
Let me, therefore, suggest that their maximum 
spread will be 30 feet— a low estimate — say, there- 
fore, 50 trees per acre. This indicates that in 
order to obtain 5 cwts. per acre, each and every 
tree must bear on an average of 300 pods per 
annum. 
But a tree with a perimeter of 25 fc. must of 
neecessity be some 15 ft. to 20 ft. in height, and 
probably much more. The cost of po liaating, 
an expensive process at best, now becomes some- 
thing that may be felt. Picking will be dearer, 
for the trees will be very tall. Moreover, the 
cost of seed, and the jilanting of it is not ex- 
cessive, so not much will be saved by having 
fewer trees per acre. 
Trees planted at 25 ft, will find some difficulty 
at fiist in covering tlie ground ; therefore 
weeding will become of moie consideration 
than usual. In order to avoid this, the cacao 
might be planted at 12 ft. or 15 !t. and alter- 
nate trees cut out later. It is doubtful 
whether the crop for a year or two will make up 
for the trees so cut out. There might be two 
lean years. 
Finally, cocoa will drop to 15s per cwt, through 
overproduction ! 
Now, the first answer to all this is that there 
already exist in the Island fields— few indeed!— 
v.hich give, or recently gave, up to 8(;wt. per acre- 
But this does not dispose of what may be con- 
demned as a reductio cd cihsnrdiun. for such 
fields are of the red variety of which planters 
are becoming more and more shy. Morever. atiy 
.attempt at pollination in such fields .voulil be 
justified only if the owner were wi ling mul pre- 
I)ared to cut out and leplant every 15 to 20 yeais. 
Under such circumstances (8 cwt. peracie) even 
the greediest planter would be inclined, I sur- 
mise, to leave -well alone. 
Manifestly, then, there is a point at which 
pollination, as fertile as I assume, and apart 
from the physical capacity of a tree to produce 
flowers which mitrht set, must cease in order, 
paradoxically, to become beneficial. So that pol- 
lination is to be welcomed more in respect of that 
cacao which is not giving luoie than two or thiee 
cwt. per acre; otherwise the trees wi 1 become 
worn out in a very few years. 
Some may say " What though they do become 
worn ? The younger the trees, the larger the poils 
(the less, therefore, to the cwt.), and the older the 
trees the more liable they become to canker. Let 
us plant up afresh two to three years— (and with 
grafted cocoa it is hoped this will be possible)— 
before we cut oi;t every 20 years, so Ion;,' as we 
get our 10 c\yt. per acre." Once recognise the 
fact that the life of a cacao tree as at present cul- 
tivated is as stated, and the answer is obvious. 
But if it were possible to obtain eight to ten cwt. 
per acre without cutting down — if, hy means ot" 
pollination, a sixth of the trees per acre of ;i virile 
and prolific variety of Forestero could be maile to 
bear as well as a Criollo field at 300 trees per 
acre, can there be any choice as to \vhi-,h of the 
two methods is to be recommended ? 
But as there is no field in the island of only one 
variety of Forestero, so there is no field of 
Forastero in the Island which gives— I speak undtr 
correction — more than two to three cwt. per acre ; 
and on the top of tliis comes pollination. 
But is there any known jat of cacao— Criollo, 
Forestero or Calabacillo— which can be depended 
on for 300 pods per tree per acre per annum ? 
For purposes of argument I jiropo.se to halve 
this figure ; 2i to 3 cwt. per acre show a very 
decent profit. There are Forestero fields giving 
that now, and successful pollination should double 
and treble this yield. 
And the second answer is that cacao, like 
everything else, is worth precisely what it will 
fetch in the market. Verb sap. POD. 
"SILK-WORM SRED" FROM 
CONSTANTINOPLE. 
Colombo, Feb. 1 1. 
Dear Sib,— T send you herewith for inspec- 
tion a sample-box of silk- worm " seed " 
reared in Constantinople, in which, thesepder 
