Jax. 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
493 
must be entirely placed upon the energy, skill, and 
integrity of an agent. India is not tlie country for 
enterprising and energetic Colonists in the usual 
acceptance of that term. As to the best mode of 
dealiog with the mines, it has been suggested that 
they snould be worked by convict labour. This was 
the custom with the Romans in Spain, where the 
descendants of these people still exist as a separate 
raC3, and still wush the rivers for gold after 2,000 
years. The difficulty of dealing with convict labour 
would be the setting of task work, cue of the best 
Btiniulauts to Indian as well as other workmen. 
One the other hand, finding occupation for convicts 
without encroaching prejudicially upon the legitimate 
tradesman has been a question in India as well as 
other countries. Gold-mining would not compete with 
the ordinary tradesman prejiidioiously. Gold-mining 
is not, as a rule, a profitable occupation. In Cali- 
fornia and Australia, in the best or times there, if 
the results abtained were divided equally amongst 
the successful and the f alures, it would not give a fair 
day's pay for the labour, and if all l he gold mines 
of the world belonged to one syndicate or company 
the balance on the year would be on the debit side 
of the accuut, hence the almost nominal intrinsic 
value of gold, and, therefore, its suitableness as a 
standard. ' The same, howeAer, acnnot be said of 
silver, the cost obtaining which fluctuates greatly 
between nothing and twentypence per once, while 
gold remains at £3 ITa. &d.— Indian Agriculturist. 

CACAO CULTURE IN ECUADOR. 
The history of Ecuador does not record when the 
cacao plant was introduced into the country, but it 
is stated that the production in 1741 was from 3.i,000 
to 40,000 " cargas " of 81 lbs. each. It is believed 
that cacao came originally from Mexico, where it was 
cultivated by the Aztecs long prior to the Spanish 
conquest. In iVlexico it was called " cacri" or " casoara 
quahuitl," and the product was called " chocolatl," 
from which 1 he word chocolate is derived. It is pro- 
duced in five provinces of the coast of Ecuador, Los 
Eios, El Gro, Ouayas, Maaavi, and Esmeraldas. The 
soil best adapted tor cacao plantations is one 
that is deep and moist, the root of the tree growing 
vertically downward to a considerable depth. Silicious 
clay is especially preferred on account of the phos- 
phoric acid and potash required by the bean. Banks 
of navigable rivers are selected generally because of 
the transportation facilities, but important plantations 
are found at considerable distances from waterways. 
Cacao is planted from fresh seeds. Four or five are 
put in eacb hole, which are five yards apart, in rows. 
Formerly they were two or three yards apart, but ex- 
perience has shown that this method does not give 
the plant sufficient air, light, and nourishment. The 
United States Consul-Genei al at Guayaquil says that 
the cultivation of cacao in Ecuador is limited to 
caring for the plant until it reaches maturity, then 
cleaning and weeding once a year. In the first few 
years the plant is primed occasionally, in order that 
it may " run to fruit" more quickly. Manures have 
never been used, even when the ground has been 
cultivated overa century, and no irrigation is practised. 
The sediment, spread over the lands by the ruins 
during the rainy season, and the decaying vegetation, 
appear to afford sufficient nutriment. In some 
haciendas, however, the proprietors pile up le.iws 
and other vegetable matter found in the vicinity of 
the tree at its foot, and also rub down the bark with 
coarse cloth to destroy the adhering parasites. In 
the primitive manner in which it is grown and har- 
vested, cacao yields a good return on the capital 
invested, but if scientific methods were adopted there 
is no doubt that the increase in production would be 
large. In the sixth or seventh year the tree com- 
mences to bear, but the pods at this time are very 
small and scarcely repay the effort _to gather them. 
In the tenth year the tree reaches full maturity. It 
then produces on an average 1 lb. of dry cocoa of good 
62 
quality. There are many trees which produce more, 
especially those which p^re isolated, some of which have 
yielded at one picking as much as 7 or 8 lb. In the 
province of Oro (Machala), IJ to 2 lb. per tree is the 
estimated yield. The tree "is in bloom daring the 
eatire year, but most of (he blossoms fall before 
fraotification, which occurs twice a year, the time 
varying with the locality. The cacao tree grows to a 
height of 20 or 30 feet ; its leaves are evergreen and 
lanoeolated in form; the base of the main trunk 
attains a thickness of 8 to 10 inches; the bark is 
hard and of greenish coffee colour. The blossom ia 
very small, pinkish white and wax-like in appear- 
ance. It grows directly out of the main trunk and 
branches. If it fructifies, the petals fall off, and from 
the stamens, in the course of from fifty to seventy 
days, an oblong pod is developed. This pod is of 
goiden colour, and contains some twenty to thirty-five 
grains of cacao, enveloped in a gummy liquid which 
coagulates on exposure to air. The outer rind of 
this pod is dark or golden yellow in colour, and very 
hard, a sharp instrument being necesssary to cut it 
open. Its size varies according to the kind of cacao, 
from 8 to 15 inches long by 2 to 6 in. thick. The outer 
lind ia marked by longitudinal furrows, more or less 
pronounced, which indicate the interior arrangement 
of the seeds. Both the outer rind and the gummy con- 
tents of the pod are porous, and blacken in colour as 
soon as picked, and in Ecuador are of use only to 
fertilise the soil upon which they are oast. As soon aa 
the pods begin to ripen, they are removed with prun- 
ing knives, very sharp, and attached to the enda 
of long poles, which are lengthened by joints as often 
as required. As the twigs are very tough, the blow with 
this instrument must be strong and well aimed, and 
the labourers must be experienced on account of the 
particular skill that is required and the fatigue that 
attends handling heavy poles sometimes 30 feet high, 
with the face continually upturned. Whenever they 
can be reached the pods are cut off with a machete. 
A good deal of cacao is lost by the carelessness of 
the labourer, and his disinclination to deal with the 
pods in the upper branches. The pods are heaped in 
piles by one set of labourers, while another cuts them 
open and extracts the contents. A sharp pruning knife 
is used, and the seeds are often damagedthrough care- 
lessness. For extracting the gummy substance and 
the seeds, an implement made of an ox rib is used. 
The drying is done on open platforms made of split 
bamboo and palms, where the cacao is exposed to the 
sun during three or four days, and in order that it 
may dry uniformly and well, labourers are employed 
to tread it out with bare feet. If not well dried the bean 
is apt to ferment; and if excessively dried it shrinks 
and finally turns black. The dryers are provided 
with covers for protection against rain. Attempts have 
been made to introduce drying machinery (steamj, but 
at present not one plantation in Eucador uses it. 
When dried in the primitive fashion stated, a great 
deal of pulp yet adhering to the grain, the cacao ia 
put into sacks and sent to Guay quil to be sold in its 
natural state- Some merchant;-, it is said, attempt to 
deceive the buyer by washing an inferior bean in 
achiote, which gives the skin the appearance of first- 
class cacao, but this practice is severely condemned by 
honest merchants, and is seldom followed, nor is reddish 
earth used in Ecuador as it is elsewhere for the purpose 
of preserving the grain from decomposition, and of in- 
creasing its weight. Reaching Guayaquil, the cacao 
is subjected to the cleaning process. Splinters, dirt, 
and defective beans are eliminated, and the adhering 
clusters of beans broken apa-rt and dried several times 
before shipment. During this process the cacao losea 
4 to 5 per cent, in weight. The sacks for foreign 
shipment contains from 60 to 70 kilogrammes (132 to 
154 lb. net. The largest portion of the crop ia 
bought in advance by Guayaquil merchants engaged 
in this business, who lend considerable sums of money 
during the year for current expenses of cacao estates. 
Large capital is necessary, and the number of 
merchants engaged in the business is limited. The 
profits of a plantation depend chiefly on the quality oj 
