THP TROWCAL AQRIOULTUmST. 
[January i, 1892. 
508 
All tho ground ia gone over firat with the niiichete’ 
a lougf heavy, cutlaaB-line knile, which the negro 
uaea either aa a tool or weapon. All treea and un- 
erbnah ace cut down except the very largo onea, 
ivhioh require an axe. Then tho atnmpa are grubbed 
up ao far aa they are likely to interfere with the 
work. Next, fire ia employed, and quickly rnna over 
the acrea where the negroca have toiled in gangs 
with their cutlaaHea, In this work of clearing, 
women are often found more satisfactory aa labor- 
ers than men, and they receive but thirty-six cents 
where the men got fifty cents. Few laoorors are 
paid by the day. Task work, I’.e. ao much for clea^ 
ing a piece of land of a given size, called a “ taak 
of land,” ia the usual method. In clearing brush- 
land in the Bahaniaa, one-fourth of an acre la a 
task. "When, at last, all the clearing and planting 
has been done and thonsanda upon thousands of 
perfect plants, in absolute symmetry of arrangement, 
with imoroken ranks, their rich green showing no 
blemish, stretch before the eye, the spectator (es- 
pecially if be happens to have a financial interest 
in the plantation) feela that thero is a beauty apart 
from mere picturesqueneaa. 
The present boom in Biaal in the Bahamas, al- 
though, like all excitements of tho kind, doomed, 
without doubt, to considerable depression in the 
future, will not be without beneficial results. Even 
with the great falling off in enthusiasm which the 
next two or three years are likely to bring, there 
will remain a new industry, a source of greater 
prosperity to a people who have been for many years 
almost inactive . — Naanaw Qiiardiau. 
BOTANY AND NOMENOLATUEE OF CACAO 
WITH DESCRin’ION OF TYFICAL. 
FORMS, Etc., Etc. 
Under this heading Mr. Hart, Director of 
Botanical Gardena in Trinidad, contributes an ela- 
borate article to the A;rric»>liual llecord, as follows ; — 
The name which Linnoeua conferred upon this 
plant is derived from the Greek Thfos (god) and 
Jdioma (food) or “ Food for the gods.” 
There are several species of the genus, which is 
native of tropical regions extending from Mexico to 
Brazil, and among the known species are the follow- 
ing: — rht^roma hicolor, T. yidatmms, T. stjhxstns, 
T. ovatifotia, T. aaffii.ili/olia — all said to bo distinct 
from our cultivated Theobronia cacao, E., and its va- 
rieties, or the kind from which the major quantity 
of the marketable product known as cacao or “ cocoa” 
is derived. 
Tho Mexicans give to Theobroma cacao the name 
of Caoaoquahuitl, which has been in a great mea- 
sure retained in the word chocolate. The treea of 
Theubiama cacao grow in some places to forty feet 
in height, tho writer having seen them of this size 
in the province of Voragua when traveiling there 
in 188.'), but the usual height of the Trinidad tree 
averages about fifteen or twenty feet, the lateral 
diameter of its branches being about the same 
measurement. In Grenada, Tobago and St. Vincent 
the tree ia generally of smaller size. 
Tho Bqtanical characters of the genus are given 
in Griesbach's Flora of the British West Indies, 
p. 81, ns follows : — 
ORDER STERGULIACEiE. 
Tribe BuettneME*. 
Cahjx 5 partite, colored. Petah 5; limb cuodlate, 
with a tentiival, epatliulate appendage. Column W-pl: 
fertile Men bi-anthenfermia ; anthers bilocular, fitijle i-M. 
Fruit baccate, b-celled: cells pulinajmlij.ipennmis. Pui- 
brgo exalbuminous : cotyledons fleshy, corrugate. Frees ; 
leaves entire; pedicels fascicled or solitary, lateral. 
The description of our species is given in the same 
work in similar terms; — 
T. Cacao, h.— Leaves oblong, acuminate, glabrous, 
guite entire; flowers fascicled ; pericarp ovid-oblong, 10 
costate. Cahjx rose-colored ; segments lanceolate, acumi- 
nate, exmding the yellowish corona I pericarp yelkw or 
reddish, leathery 6 fo 8 inches long. Uabitat, Trinidad 
— Ve Schach. Naturalized in Jamaica ! Fist. St. 
Lucia! Anderson. ( Uuiana and Brazil ! ) 
The various names under which tlio varieties of 
this tree ( Theobroma cacao) are known do not consti- 
tute species, but must bo merely considered as varie- 
ties of one original species. Those varieties pro- 
bably owe their origin to seed variation, togotlicr 
with tho influence of soil and climate, and to 
eunmerato the whole of their names would serve 
no useful purpose. 
Mr. Morris’s clasifioation • was based upon the 
nomenclature of some of tho best estates in Trinidad 
and has stood tho test of ten years’ criticism without 
serious contradiction, and may well bo adopted for 
'Trinidad with slight modification. It must be ad- 
mitted that tho local nomenclature of various districts 
differs much, one with another, and it would therefore 
be a hopeless task to attempt to reconcile those names. 
It is but patent to a close obseiwer that thero are 
certain characters of cacao more strongly marked than 
others, as exemplified in the vai'ioties known as 
Criolla, Forastoro and Calabocillo. though Mr. Morris 
contents liimsolf with forming thorn into two great 
classes, “Criollo and Forastero,” and ho gives tho 
CalabaciUo aa a variety only of Forastero. 
Judging from a series of observations it would bo 
better I am inclined to think, to make three classes, 
placing Criollo as Class I., Forastoro as Class II., 
and CalabaciUo as Class III., being tho lowest type 
of the species. 
Class I. CRIOLLO — ok fine thin-skinned varieties. 
1. Var. a. Amarillo. 
‘2. ., b. Colorado. 
Class II. FORASTERO — on thick-skinned cacao. 
.8. Var. a. Cundoamor vorugosa amarillo. 
4. „ b. ,. „ Colorado. 
5. „ e. Ordinary amarUlo. 
6. ., d. „ Colorado. 
7. „ e. Amelonado amarillo. 
8. „ /. „ Colorado. 
Class III. CALABAOLLLO — on small-todded, 
THICK, SMOOTH-SKINNED, FLAT-BEANED. 
9. Var. a. Amarillo. 
10. „ b. Colorado. 
The finest cacao is by general consent admitted 
to be prodneed by tho Criollo variety, and this is 
assumed to be identical or similar in character to 
that called the Caracas variety. In tho Consular 
Report on the agricultural condition of Columbia, 
Consul Dickson mentions that “ the variety chiefly grown 
in Columhia is different to that of Venezuela, rvliieh pro- 
duces Caracas cacao, the pods being much larger, and 
containing a greater number^ of beans, but as the number 
of pods prodned by a tree is greater, it la prehahU that 
on the lokole the Venezuelan variety is the moreprodnelive 
of the. two. The gualilji of Cohimhian cacao is little, if at 
all, inferior to that of the Venezuelan, bid it is little knoivn 
in commerce, as only an insignificant amount is exported, 
the. supply scarcely satisfijing the demand of the country." 
What this variety spoken of by Consul Dickson may 
be, we have no means of correctly ascertaining at 
present, but from the comparison with the Caracas 
variety given by Mr. Dickson wo might assume that 
it was very near to, if not synonymous with our 
Forastero, and it is to bo noted that such a variety 
would also he ‘‘Forastoro” or foreign to the Caracas 
people. 
Dr. Trimen of Ceylon, in his annual Report for 
1890, falls into tho error of interpreting the word 
" Criollo ” as being synonymous with “ wild.” 
It is well known, however, that tho word ia never 
used in this sense in the West Indies, the trne in- 
terpretation of tho word “ Creole ” being — one born 
• “Cacao, How to grow and how to cure it.” 
(Janiaoia, 188Sd 
t No. I, red Creole; No. 2, yellow Creole. Nos. 3 and 
i, Cnndeamor, is derired from the Sjianish name of the 
" Cenwee" (Momordica Charantia^ which possesses a 
peculiar warted appearance. Thus the name means 
Alomordica-shaped, rough red or yellow cacao. Nos. 7 
and 8 are Amelonadoor melon-shaped, red and yellow cacao- 
CalabaciUo, catabash-shapcil cacao, red and yellow. 
