252 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct. 1, 1901. 
To the Editor. 
CACAO GROWING IN THE SOUTH 
PACIFIC ISLANDS. 
22 CWT. CACAO PER ACRE IN SAMOA ! 
Apia, Samoa, May 21st, 1901. 
Sir— In your issue of March 1st this year and 
on page, 615 is an article styled "Cacao : Pol- 
lination and 10 cwt. to the acre." 
I regret to say that none of ua in Samoa have 
sufficiently follwed your valuable Journal to un- 
derstand propely what the term " Pollination 
means. We suppose it means that the pollen 
from the male fioweis is to be introduced into the 
female flowers by hand, in a manner somewhat 
similar to t.hat employed in fertilising Vanilla. 
Would you be so kind as to explain the term to 
us? [Yes: to apply pollen to a stigma.— Ed. T.A^^ 
The culture ot cacao has but begun in these 
islands and less than 500 acres are now planted. 
Within the next six mouths we look to get in an 
additional 200 acres and such arrangements are 
being made that we believe a very large area will 
be set out in 1902, probably over 1,000 acres for 
that year. . 
Next year about 150 acres will be in full 
bearing— that is lands cultivated by foreigners. 
It is also likely that an additional 100 acres of 
aative cultivation may also be in good bearing as 
■well. As we are cultivating cacao quite differ- 
ently from the manner stated in "Pods'" article, I 
have thought it might be of some interest to re- 
count for you our experiences, and the results so 
far obtained, 
Mr "Pod" speaks of cultivating trees so close 
that 300 may be set out on a single acre. And 
he fears that the Ceylon soil will not stand 
such a drain as 5 cwt. of cacao per acre per 
annum. And he calculates that 15,000 pods will 
produce about 5 cwt. of cacao— about 30 pods to 
the lb. in Samoa we are planting our trees 
spaced so that we get from 120 to 150 trees to the 
acre, and some people think this too close. 
Last year they averaged 6 lb per tree of cured 
merchantable cacao of the highest quality, and 
this year's first crop has already averaged close 
upon 6 lb per tree, so that, with the October 
crop yet to come, it is pretty safe to say we 
will get from 8 to 10 lb cacao per tree. Mr. "Pod" 
seems to be well satisfied with a yield of from 
2^ to 3 cwt per acre, per annum, but thinks that 
pollination may double this yield. We are not re- 
sorting to this expedient here to get still more 
favourable results. 
We have both the Oriollo and the Forastero 
varieties, and their crosses, in all our fields and 
all thrive equally well. So far we have had no 
disease or pest to fight, and we hope we may 
escape such difficulties. Manuring is not thought 
of yet, but in time we may have to resort to it, 
though we see no present signs of so doing. 
As this enterprise is of a comparatively recent 
date in Samoa— th<» life of the csicao tree in these 
slands is as yet undetermined ; but with our 
trees spaced 18 feet apart, we think they should 
last reasonably well. When the seasons have been 
particularly dry, we have noticed that a good 
few pods turn black just before maturing, No 
one here has been able to account for this. This 
year we have had showers quite constantly and the 
percentaae of blacK pods is very low. Some have 
said that our trees were not able to mature so 
many pods as were being produced, and nature, 
in order to relieve the tree, destroyed in this way 
a part of the pi oduce. Poss-ibly in Ceylon the same 
phenomenon has been observed and most likely you 
con tell us its cause; maybe you can also name 
its care. [Is it not evident that drought in Samoa 
is to blame ?— Ed. T.A.'\ 
I ha^e seen, very many trpps this year with 
from 150 to 200 well-matuieil cacao pods ou 
them for the April crop — aud it is to be noted that 
the tree will keep right along, bearing slo«ly till 
October — when another sizable crop will be har- 
vested, probably about one half as large as that 
produced in April. 
On a tree just four years old, within a mile and a 
half of Apia, I have this April personally counted 
270 fine well-matured cacao pods, and the cacao 
from this orchard, being cured, distinctly showed 
that 16 pods were sufficient to make a pound 
of merchantable cocoa. 
We have here c cao trees but two years and 
five months old which are now full of young 
cacao pods, but it is my belief that, although 
many cacao trees will bear soon after they are 
three years old, a paying crop cannot be counted 
on until the fourth year. 
As to the price we have had for our cocoa I may 
say that, though the buyers have found some fault 
with our methods of curing ic, still what we have 
sent away has brought, iu San Francisco, from 16 
to 18 cts. per lb. aud tlie bulk of it, which has 
gone to Hamburg, has realized of late 93/6 per 
cwt., with the promise of a better price as 
soon as we could deliver in quantities suffi- 
ciently large to induce the manufacturer to make 
up our variety of cacao by itself. Mixed with 
other cocoas it loses its identity. 
We see no reason to apprehend that the price 
will fall— in fact all of our information leads us to 
believe we may even get more before long. We 
cultivate either variety indifferently. If one raises 
the Forastero cacao he gets larger pods, bub not 
so many as if he attempted the Criollo. There 
is no difference iu the cost of cultivation and 
little in the gathering and curing. 
If we are raising from 8 to 11 cwt. here in 
Samoa per acre ajjainst your 2J and 3 cwt. in 
Ceylon, the conditions here must be infinitely 
better than with you. 
I may say that very many people believe we 
have here the most perfect cacao conditions in 
the whole world. Others say that "Mr Pod" is 
surely underestimating the usual yield in Ceylon. 
Will you, Mr Editor, kindly inform us which 
opinion is right? [Samoa has undoubtedly far 
richer soil than Ceylon. — Ed. T.A.'i 
The Cacao outlook has been such as to attract 
a great deal of notice here in Samoa, and nearly 
every storekeeper, and trader, is getting into it 
for all he is worth. 
Previous to the di-covery of our capacity for 
production, lands back from the sej, — no matter 
how good — wc-e aliuost unsaleable. 
Four years ago, 3u00 acres, almost adjoining 
Apia, were sold to the French Catholic Mission for 
$2 per acre U. S. gold. 
Similar land farther away was sold during the 
early part of this year to: from Ig2.50 to $-1 per 
acre. Just now this land could be easily resold at 
