Great care is bestowed in cutting off the superfluous branches of the young trees, so as to give them the bene fit of the whole of the circulating fluids. All young shoots from the root are destroyed.
After the cacao walk is completed, great attention is necessary to keep it in order. The trees must be freed from the cryptogamous plants that grow on them, the earth worms must be destroyed, the walks must be cleared from all weeds, the trenches for drainage must be constantly deepened, so that after the roots have sunk five or six feet into the soil, the moisture may be equally diffused, for when there is too much the root decays. This precaution not only ensures the health of the trees, but also a larger crop. The branches should not be too often lopped, as when this is done the tree frequently dies.
The nut withers upon the tree from several causes, which frequently cannot be obviated. But we cannot enter so minutely into this subject as we wish, from the nature of our work.
There are two principal crops of cacao in the year, the first about St John's day, and the second about the end of December. Frequently the crop fails ; and gene rally a considerable quantity of the nut is found to be de cayed. Great benefit is said to be derived from gather ing- the fruit when the moon is waning, yet some intelli gent people ridicule this opinion, as a mere prejudice, and impracticable to any extent, without a certain loss, by the decay of a large portion of the fruit.
The people employed in gathering. carrying, and separating the external coat of the cacao nut, are selected with care ; the gatherers are composed of those whose sight is good, so-that no unripe fruit shall be pulled ; the strongest and most active are the carriers ; and the old infirm slaves open the shell and take off the husk. These two last operations are performed by two classes of the feeble old people.
Good cacao should be separated from that which is either indifferent or bad. In general there are four kinds of cacao in each crop : the ripe, the green, the perfectly formed, that which is worm eaten, and the rotten. When ever the first of these (the ripe) begins to ferment, it should be separated. The unripe nuts should be covered with the leaves of the plantain for three days, in order that they may ripen thoroughly. All the nuts are then
stored ; and it is indispensably necessary, that no leaves or pieces of the shell, or any other refuse, should be left in the store-house. And this is to be attended to, when ever the store-house is cleaned out.
But previous to this storing of the cacao, it must be very completely dried in the sun, as moisture is highly prejudicial to its being kept good. The best criteria of its being dry, are its not crackling when broken, and not heating when collected into heaps. When imperfectly dried, the nuts become mouldy; and on the other hand, too much drying renders it liable to decay.
When the crop is considerable, a quintals of cacao may be put out to dry in the sun at cure, unless the plantation has a sufficient number of hands to convey a larger quantity. Should the season be rainy, the cacao ought to be dried in large, well ventilated, and covered galleries, with which every plantation should be furnish ed. Mr Depons suggests that stoves might be advan tageously introduced, although they are as yet unknown in the colonies.
The storehouses, in which the cacao is kept, ought to be floored and wainscoated, and a small chaffing dish, covered with a funnel, the pipe of which enters the heap of the produce, and diffuses the smoke throughout it. Some put bottles of vinegar, slightly covered, in the houses, as a preservative against worms.
The nuts which are slightly tainted, may be preserved from entire decay, by a slight sprinkling of brine, which might be used as a preservative. Thus both salt and smoke are found useful ; yet, singular to say, they are only resorted to after the destruction has been partial.
One slave is equal to the management of a thousand cacao trees, each of which yields one lb. in middling soil, and one and a half in the best. The mean in the Caraccas, according to Depons, is about 20 ounces per tree. So that the produce of 1000 trees will be 1250 lbs. of cacao, which, even at a moderate rate, is a very handsome return for the work of each labourer. The expences of cultivation and necessary machinery is very trifling ; the various accidents to which this kind of pro duce is liable, are the only drawbacks that lessen the number of its cultivators.