The Cultivation of Cocoa, u 
must be treated in the way stated above. The precau- 
tion should however always be taken of planting a 
young tree near, to guard against any accident happen- 
ing to the old stem. 
Till their third year the plants must be well earthed up 
at the beginning of the dry season. 
The field must be kept clean, especially at the end of 
the dry season, so as to allow the soil to have full benefit 
from the first rains. As a matter of course, the trees must 
always be free from parasites and creepers. Some- 
times the bark is covered with a sort of moss, es- 
pecially if the air has not free passage. This moss 
must be removed by brushing with cocoanut fibre, as 
it prevents those parts from blossoming. During the dry 
season the trees are generally visited by a grub which 
attacks the bark at several places, lays its eggs inside, 
and multiplies quickly. This is especially the case after 
the trees have been pruned. The bark must be carefully 
cut away where attacked, without injuring the tree, the 
worms and eggs removed and destroyed. If they have 
bored to the heart, the tree withers and dies. The dan- 
ger is not so great in older trees as it is in those from 
2 to 4 years old. The wood of the former being thicker 
and harder, the grub is detected and destroyed before so 
much injury is done. From 2 to 4 years the trees are 
so tender that they hardly bear even the cutting away 
of the injured bark. 
Another plague is present in [three sorts of ants — 
one makes large nests in the soil, gnaws the seeds when 
planted and eats away the young leaves, sometimes cut- 
ting the crown of the young plants, seriously damaging 
B 1 
