172 Cocoa. 
than sixteen or eighteen feet. The leaves are large, ob- 
long, and pointed. The flowers are small, arranged in 
clusters, the petals yellowish, and the calyx of a rose 
colour. The fruits which are oblong in form, vary in size 
from six to ten inches long, and usually about three or 
four inches broad. 
The cocoa plants are raised from seed, and the 
nurseries for this purpose should be pitched on a good soil, 
and in a position well sheltered from the sun. The seeds 
are planted in the month of November, and are covered 
with the leaves of the Banana and other plants. “The 
cacao trees should have sufficient shade to prevent them 
being burned by the sun. If they are too much exposed 
to its rays, their branches are scattered, crack, and the tree 
dies. They are also infested with worms, which gnaw the 
bark all round, then attack the interior and destroy them. 
The only remedy which has hitherto been found, is to em- 
ploy people to kill these worms, which are deposited by a 
small scaly winged insect, which gnaws the tree ; as soon 
as it hears the approach of its destroyers, it lets itself fall, 
and trusts to its wings for safety.” 
As this tree requires to be sheltered from the direct rays 
of the sun “the mode of combining this protection with the 
principles of fertility, forms a very essential part ofthe skill 
which its cultivation demands. The cacao tree is mingled 
with other trees which shelter it, without depriving it of any 
of the sun’s heat. The Erythrina and the Banana fare em- 
ployed for this purpose. The latter by the rapidity of its 
growth, and the magnitude of its leaves, protect it for the 
first year. The Lrythrina endures at least as long as the 
Cacao ; it is not every soil, however, that agrees with it. It 
perishes after a while in sandy and clayey ground, but it 
flourishes in such as combine these two ingredients, 
In forming a new plantation a preference is usually given 
to land which has the advantage of irrigation from an ad- 
jacent river, without the chance of an overflow, and the — 
cocoa plants should not exceed thirty-six inches in size — 
when transplanted. “In one range of Cacao trees a Banana 
is placed between two Cacaos, and an Erythrina between the 
two following. In the other range a banana is placed be- 
tween each Cacao tree, and no Arythrinas, so that the latter 
are at the distance of two alleys. The Banana and the © 
Erythrina are first planted, and when a shelter fromthe sun, | 
is thus provided, the hole for the cacao is made, around — 
which are planted four stalks of the yucca plant, at the dis . 
