124 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Aug. 2 , 1897 . 
THE DISEASE IN CACAO: 
PRACTICAL HINTS. 
Deak Sir— I see from the papers there is a great 
deal being written about a new cacao pest (a weevil) 
we are said to suffer from on some estates and in 
some districts more than in others. I think al! men 
nterested in cacao planting should have your Tropical 
Agriculturist volume for 1884 and 1885 wherein 
cacao planting and pests are well discussed. See 
proceedings of Planters’ Meeting folio 90, 91, 92 and 
93. Dr. Trimen’s letters folio 110 and 328. Advice to 
young cacao planters 333, 385 and 478 and many more 
letters as per Index. Dr. Tiimen goes fully into 
insect pest in his valuable letter on folio 328, even 
the best of doctors or scientists differ. Dr. Trimen 
says on folio 111 flat ground is better than sloping 
for cacao ; Bosingault says on folio 222 cacao grows 
best on a gentle slope; — Mr. Vollar says on folio 90 
on one estate badly affected the land is poor and 
soil shallow ; Mr. Jardine says on folio 92 poverty 
of soil has nothing to with the pest, he had some 
of his best cacao affected. 
Insects. — The smaller the insects the larger the 
swarms they travel in for mutual protection. They 
as a rule never stay long in one place, as with the bee, 
helopeltis, paddy fly, weevil or tomici — so any visi- 
tation from these insect peats is only temporary. 
Strong remedies I have always found, that destroy the 
pest, also injure your trees. The use of woodasb, 
lime and cowdung to the branches or stems which 
these insects do not like, used properly, prevent such 
insect attacks and are actually a manure for the 
tree, especially so when washed off, to the roots 
around the tree. The insects will soon find they are 
on forbidden ground and then swarm and go off 
some night to pastures new. I recommended in 
1884 croton oil trees for shade or wind belts. Some 
planters who planted and kept up their croton were 
glad enough, to get their 60/ to 80/ per cwt. for the 
seed last and this year. 
Wind. — You can stop the wind injuring cacao, &c., 
by planting useful belts, from which a profit can 
be made. 
Poor Soil, — We certainly have a variety of soil 
in Ceylon and it requires some time to understand 
the wants in different soils for the plants — from 
the growing plant you can often make out what 
is different in the soil, otherwise by filtration of soil. 
1 have no dfficulty now to provide the necessary 
nourishment and bring my plants up to an evenness 
all round, same as I did on Maria estate with the 
coffee (flat and steep land, loamy and quartzy soil) 
yet coffee trees as well as crop, when His Excellency 
Sir John Douglas visited the estate, were all that 
could be desired. So can cacao be worked up to pay 
now. — Yours faithfully, 
JOSEPH HOLLOWAY. 
CACAO DISEASE. 
Greenwood, June 17. 
SiK, — I wish to submit a few remarks with 
reference to the two letters of Mr. Jas. li. 
Martin lately published by you. 
He writes : “ I can assure you, that the 
acreage which has suffered at all, is a small per- 
centage ” and further “Another point is that, 
whilst the acreage of cacao is, if anything, dimi- 
nishing, (why ?) the export of cacao is steadily 
increasing.” — This has no value as argument 
against tlie virulence of the disease, for the 
high prices ruling for Ceylon Criollo u]i to the 
beginning of 1894, induced a large extension 
in the cultivation with more robust kinds which 
coming gradually into bearing makes more than 
up for the yearly mortality, be.sides, the trees 
are sai<l to increase their bearing power up to 
the lOtli year and it is only 20 years ago that 
planting began in this Island. 
What has to be considered to make out if a 
product is remunerative or not is the acreage in 
bearing and the value of crop and I maintaiu 
that if the numerous native garden.s were taken 
into account and the large acreage which has 
been abandoned between 1885-1890 owing to the 
then prevailing disease, it would be found that 
its cultivation is unremuiierative in Ceylon, 
giving now an acreage return of less than, vo far, 
tioo cicts. per acre \ and only double this amount 
under very favourable conditions. 
He admits the possibility that the red cacao of 
Ceylon (commonly called Criollo) will be entirely 
superseded by Forastero and by this he gives 
himself much more away in trying to prove the 
innocuousness of the disease than the unfortunate 
who saw 50 or 25 per cent of his trees die 
out, did as a planter. This stricture of Mi. 
Martin was not charitable. 
If then all the Criollo is likely to succumb 
“ although gradually and thereby not bringing 
on a crisis,” nevertheless will there be a greater 
loss than with coffee being replaceil by tea, both 
products giving a return alter 3 years when cacao 
takes double the time ; and besides the success of 
supplies is by no means so general as Mr. Martin 
states, which is alw.ays the case with products 
of the same family. 
What you so justly said in your article on the 
“ Cacao Pest ” (see page 801, 'T.A. for May) — 
“Through some occult reason the subject was ta- 
booed in public ; most people seemed to know of it 
and yet it was never discussed ” . . . “ Has this 
conspiracy of silence been wise?” Mr. Martin clearly 
thinks so, for he writes:— “ ■ • • as .soon as it is 
known that we have asked for Government help, 
alarmist paragraphs will aiqiear in the papers, 
and the financial po.sition of cacao will be severely 
injured.” In what way?— In the fictitious lalue 
of property falling to its level, is the only and 
not very sound nor moral one I can see. 
I agree with Mr. Martin that the author of 
the destruction is a loooclac (Tomicus perforans) 
brought by me to your notice in November ’94 
for the first time, but my impiession is that, so far, 
observations of it have been superficial. Now that 
the Honorary Entomologist and the Director of 
Botanical Gardens are at work, I suj)pose we 
shall, in time, have a proper monograph of the 
insect and its metamorpho.sis and tlie effects of 
its working. 
It is my opinion that, as witii Phylloxera, 
black and green bug and hemileia vastatrix, 
no efficient prophylactic remedy (the only one 
effective) will be discovered without the cost 
of application being prohibitive and therefore 
the best course is to plant the Criollo fields 
with one of the good hardy varieties, which so 
far have been unaffected. 
Pioneers, as a rule, fail : those in the culti- 
vation of cacao in Ceylon have followed this rule 
and the cause of it is, that in their ignorance 
they have planted a species of cacao, the only 
one then existing in the island, which proved 
later on to be very liable to disease, and similar, 
probably, to that which died out in several parts 
of the West Indies. The higher prices obtained 
for it encouraged them for some time to per- 
severe in the mistake, till some of the more 
hardy kinds, latterly imported, having come to 
a certain age, shewed their resistance to disease 
and are still free from the attack of Tomicus, 
but there is only proof of comparative immunity 
where other varieties in close vicinity are at- 
tacked. 
I know of two Venezuelan kinds which have 
stood this test and besides being very robust 
bear a good size pod with thin rind and large 
