506 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. [Feb. J, 1902. 
What the mother-tree's name is I cannot say 
with certainty ; according to Jumelle it should be 
a kind o£ Foiesteio by the pinkish brealt of the 
beans and the more flat form thereof ; but, after 
all, the name does not matter much ; only so much 
J know that by natural crossing of this new kind 
with red Java cacao a hjbrid has developed. This 
variety grows rapidly and gives an abundance of 
big fruit. From the 6 to 7 year old trees 1 get 
OQ an average fully .5 catties (=abouf 7 lbs-) of market- 
able cacao, a (production) crop which I could not 
get from Java cacao. Yet, in Siloewok Sarvangan, 
there are, as the owner, Mr. Ebeling informs me, 
red cacao trees from 7 to 8 years old which pro- 
duce up to 6 catties (=8 lbs.) marketable cacao. 
At Ngoepit, I am told, in a good year, an average 
of 10 catties (=13?, lbs.) of marketable cacao per tree 
was got from red Java cacao. The seed for my 
own use and that of other planters whom 1 supply 
I take from my plantation of trees of first generation- 
Prices of first-class cacao of this kind prepxred 
at Samarang are more than satisfactory ; although 
the nicest and biggest pods were sold for planting; 
one lot brought ii. 3'.50 per piool, (1 nicol about 
=136 lbs.) and another lot fi. 8 per picol more than 
first-class red oajao. A big sample of this cacao- 
was taxed in Holland, a few years ago, at 2i oeuts 
p. § kilogr. (or about Ra. 0 03 per lb.) higher than 
red cacao. 
- When I noticed that this variety resisted better the 
prevailing disease", I stopped planting led cacao since 
1895. Yet, if you plant the IJjati Roenggo variety among 
red Java cacao trees which were suffering from both 
.diseases, then they wtre also attacked by the 
■ paloges (?) ; but, owing to their more robust growth 
, these trees recover sooner and therefore resist the 
diseases better than red Java cacao. 
In Jumelle's " Le Cacxoier" is stated that in all 
cacao-producing countrifS the " Ociollo," to which 
class, according to this writer, alsj the red Java 
caeao has to be reckoned, is abandoned and 
replaeea by other kinds of stronger growth. All red 
Java cacao trees which are poorly and much 
attacked by Helopeltis, are now taken out and 
replaced by the Djati Roenggo variety. This variety 
grows at Djati Roenggo ± 1,000 ft. above sea just as 
well as at Terwidi =t= 1,500 ft., at Assinan and Tlog. 
i 1,700 ft, and at Lcrep about 1,800 ft. high; like- 
wise it answers very well at Siloewok Swangan, 
± 75 ft. high. To my idea all kinds of soil, if not 
too bad, will grow cacao; at Djati Roenggo on' a 
substrate of heavy clay and " padas, ' at Terwidi 
and Tlogo on light clay and even sand, red Java 
and the Djati Roenggo variety answer very well. 
Oacao withstands drought well; with an East 
monBOon of six months' drought, nutmeg and Liberia 
ooiifee trees were already fading, while cacao, the 
red as well as the Djati Roenggo variety were still 
fresh, and even put on flush ; nor did a wet East 
monsoon damage it at all. On poor and old soil, 
Buch as at Djati Roenggo, fully 60 years o!d, they 
grow well, of course with liberal manuiing. On 
lands of the Eastern Provinces already ten to 
twenty years under coffee, Djati Roenggo will still 
grow beautifully ; but after some time yen will have 
to start manuring. If there is no manure to be 
had in the neighbourhood, one has to keep 
some cattle. In place of b'g cattle runs small 
graz'ug lands on different spots should be recom- 
mended, so as to (simplify) shorten the transport of 
the manuie to the trees. Grass fields should be 
supplied ; kolondjono-grass, a fine fodder, grows 
rapidly. The cattle should not graze later than 8 
or y o'clock ; afterwards they should bo kept in the 
stable, so as to ob'ain more manure. The manure 
of a herd of cattle kept in this way comes to about 
10 to 12-1 cts. p. cubic ft., and it is good manure. 
The grazing finlds must be fenced in with barbed 
wire on "randoe" trees which must be bigh enough 
to prevent the cattle from eating the highest shoots, 
)u the (pegiDuing o*cao requires good ahading; ii 
grows very well between coflFee trees, and within 
four years supplants both Java and Liberia coffee. 
While 2-year old plants of red Java cacao have an 
average height of 4 ft., the Djati Roenggo va;iety 
reaches fully 6 ft., and trees of 6 to 7 years old 
are about 20 ft. high with brani;hes of about 9 ft. ; 
Java cacao of the same age is about iS £>. high 
with branches of 7 ft. If yon do not plant the cacao :n 
abandoned coffee plantations you ma\ surround it with 
tbree or four shootF of dadap or " ketella pohoong" 
as temporary shading. 
The cacao tree reaches an age of 40 to 50 years ; 
there are here still some specimens of red cacao 
trees fully 50 years old ; it is fiom these trees that 
the seeds were obiained for the Djati Roenggo plan- 
tations. As DO dadap can live so long, at least 
not here, I planted Castilloa trees in between 
squares of 36 ft. In one plantation of CastiUoa of 
ten yeais with seven year old trees of the Dj iti 
Roenggo vaiiety in between, both are in good con- 
dition. On estates which aie not exposed to long 
drought, the cacao, after having once clo-ed, does 
not want shading any more, but protection from 
wind should be provided; cac o is easier injured by 
wind than by sun. Cnesalpina das) rhachis is aUo 
a good shade tree, vi-hich does not drop its leaves 
in the East monsoon. 
Nurseries are made ns for cfiee, but I plant the 
seeds directly one foot from one another. The seeds 
are put only so deep in the ground, that one-half 
remains above ground, wi h that end where they 
were attached in the pod downward--. "Si u may 
also put them flat on the gioun^, again to the 
middle in the ground, but thfre is this disadvan- 
tage, that ou heavy clay and with heavy rains the 
seeds may be covered with a crust of clay which 
will hinder the upright growih in budding I begin 
to lay cut pits in April and May, and not later, 
as I want big plan s ; the soil here is easy to loosen 
(" pocteren,"^ If the soil cannot easily be loosened, 
one has to resort to batktts or pots of m mure, in 
which you may put the pits in July or August, as 
I was told by planters who had no tit soil. Other 
planters start later towards the West monsoon ; 
they put out the plants in curteries and trans- 
plant them into the lands as soon as thej have 
budded. Others again plant directly two or three pits 
out into the gardens ; the different proves which I 
have taken of this way of planting have given very 
poor results. 
In planting cacao in " pocterans " or baskets the 
protruding taproot may salely be cut cff with a 
sharp knife. From my own experience I strongly 
object to planting " Tjaboetan.= ," since a drought of 
one or two days after putting them out will surely kill 
the young plants. About pruning of cacao theie is 
no agreement of opinion as yet ; 1 am opposed to 
pruning; I allow free growih. After the second year 
shoots come out at the top, at least one; this I keep, 
as it makes afterwards the continuation of the s-em ; 
after a year or so the tree gives i nother shoot at 
the top which becomes stem in its turn, so 1 have 
trees already three or four stories high. 
Other plants again form low on the stem two or three 
strong shoots, which I keep all : for their forma- 
tion is, to my idea, a consequence of sickliness in 
the mother tree ; these shoots grow rapidly and the 
mother tree is cut down. 
Only three branches are pruned down after the first 
or second picking. Other planters allow no shoots, 
but keep the first three or four top branches, which 
afterwards spread as with topped trees. I have 
here a few specimens which accidentally grow like 
that, but the three or four top branches give too many 
secondary and tertiary branches, so that their prun- 
ing becomes a serious matter ; ani these branches, 
must be pruned to render the picking easier. 
Picking gives here no trouble ; the picking gang, 
provided with small knives on bamboo sticks, out th« 
ripe pods easily off, and it happens but rarely that 
