VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL PRODUCTIONS. 345 
It begins to bear the third year, produces three to four 
hundred pounds per acre in the fifth year, attains its 
maximum in the tenth, and is old in the thirtieth. 
Coffee exhausts the soil more than any crop except 
tobacco. 
Cacao . — All through the forests of the Atlantic coast 
cacao grows wild, and even in this condition generally of 
choice quality. On the Pacific coast are the chief planta¬ 
tions, although the amount exported is insignificant (1,492 
lbs. in 1884). Just over the Mexican boundary, in the 
province of Soconusco, grows the most celebrated cacao 
known; and probably careful selection of seed and cultiva¬ 
tion would produce the same results in Guatemalan terri¬ 
tory. Throughout the republic there is probably less cacao 
raised than before the Conquest, when the nib was current 
as money, and chocolate a royal drink. Like the coffee-tree, 
cacao requires protection, 1 which must be continuous, for 
the cacao never outgrows it; but a thin shade such as the 
India-rubber affords will answer very well, and in this case 
the madre cacao is profitable. A cacao-plantation should 
be in full bearing about the seventh year • and while the 
curing of the pods requires much care and experience, the 
cultivation of the trees is very simple. The many varie¬ 
ties and the interesting process by which the bean is pre¬ 
pared for market are well described in the pamphlet to 
which reference has been made. Plantations in the 
valleys of the Polochic, Chocon, and Motagua would 
yield a rich return. In Guatemala are several factories 
for preparing chocolate from the bean, and I have seen 
samples of very high quality. It is generally, if not 
i Cacao: How to grow and how to cure it. London: Prepared by the 
Jamaica Government. 
