NATURAL PllODUCTIOXS. 
69 
that siigav will richly remunerate in prosperous years. 
Xot certainly while the present state of things lasts ; hut 
if such changes as I have indicated were adopted, the 
West Indian ])roprietors of sugar estates would he men 
well to do. 1 am not at all sanguine that these changes 
will he readily made. There are too many vested in- 
terests concerned ; there are so many who derive profit by 
the present arrangement, that any change would cer- 
taiidy be disapproved of. 
Cacao is the ne.xt important product of Trinidad. It 
is altogether diffenmt in itself and in its cultivation from 
the suo-ar-cane. 
O 
“ The cacao-tree is a moderate-sized tree, of a dwarfish, 
straggling appearance, with a broad fringed leaf. It 
grows to some twenty or even to forty feet- high. It 
recpiires much moistureand shade, which, is obtained from 
the shelter of the “ hois iminortd” a lofty umbrageous 
tree, good for Jio other purpose but the shade it affords. 
“ The cacao-bean grows in pods of an elliptical, conical 
form. These pods are about as large as a man’s closed 
hand, and instead of hanging from the extremities of the 
I)ranches,.as most fruits do, they hang on the trunk itself, 
connected merely by a short stalk, and from the thicker 
branches. The pod has coarse rind, and is at first green 
in colour, changing to dullish mottled purple or chocolate 
colour when fully ripe. The pod is divided into (piar- 
ters, and will contain about a hundred beans. 
“ The cxdtivator of a cacao estate leads a very cpiiet life. 
'I’he great thing required of him is patience to wait till 
the fruit is ripe to be gathered. There is but little for 
him to do during tlie greater part of the year. A\ieed- 
ing, and manuring, and trashing, Avhich occupy so much 
time, and cost so much inonoy in the cultn'ation of the 
cane, is not known on the cacao estate. As long as the 
trees are kept clear from underbush by the occasional 
use of the cutlass, there is little more recpiircd in the 
way of weeding. Some attention, however, must be paid 
to the destruction of certain insects of the genus iungi- 
