The cacao tree is not in full vigour until the seventh or eighth year, (according to the situation of the plan tation,) though, in some remarkable spots, it attains perfection in four years. It retains its vigour for 50 years.
The cacao tree is obnoxious to several diseases, the most common of which are induced by the injuries in flicted on it by several kinds of worms, of which we shall give Depons' account, and by parasitic plants. " The first of these caterpillars is small, of an ash-grey colour, which, on being squeezed, emits a noise like the hissing of cold water on red-hot iron. It has two small horns on its head. It is so tenacious of life, that its head re tains some activity long after it has been separated from its body. It is deposited in small holes in the bark." The only mode of destroying it is by hand.
" At the beginning of the rainy season, another very destructive insect appears, and destroys the leaves of the tree. It is four inches long, of the thickness of one's finger, and of various colours. ft is called Goosing by some, and Angaripola by others. These destructive creatures are sometimes so numerous, as to afford con tinued employment to the whole establishment in killing them. They are deposited by butterflies, which have escaped the vigilance of the planter. When they appear and fly about, fires, sufficiently large to attract their no tice, should be made on different parts, and they always fly into the flames." There is a third variety of caterpillars called Rosquilla, which infest certain districts. It thrives in the dry season.
There are also others called ricerredores, larger and blacker than the others, that destroy the bark. They gnaw the wood.
The caterpillars called Vachaeos, are also very mis chievous in devouring the leaves and the flowers. The earth, in which they have their nests, must be taken away.
Parasitic plants that attach themselves to the cacao tree, must be removed by hand, or the tree will perish.
The cacao tree is subject to blotches on the bark, which must be extirpated by the knife.
Stags, monkeys, and other animals, destroy the tree and its produce. The precautions to guard against their *I cursions must be suggested by local circumstances.
Chocolate is a well known paste, the basis of which is the cacao, and occasionally other ingredients are added to heighten its flavour. The rudest mode of preparing
the chocolate, is by roasting the nut in an earthen pot, then grinding it between two stones, and last of all by moulding it into any form by the hand. The more im proved method is the following one : After the cacao has been properly roasted and freed from every impurity, it is pounded in a mortar into a coarse powder, which is sufficiently ground on a stone to the greatest degree of fineness, and heated, when it is put into cylindrical or flat moulds, in which it congeals and is fit for use. The Spaniards mix spices of different kinds, besides large quantities of drugs, which are offensive to some palates. In England and France, Vanilla sugar, and occasionally cinnamon, are the ingredients that are added. The cho colate manufactured in this country pays an inland tax of about Is. 6d. per pound ; and must be wrapped up in stamped papers. After a notice of three clays, private families may make chocolate for their own use, provided, that not less than half a hundred weight of cacao nuts be used at once.
Although foreigners prefer the Spanish chocolate, that which is prepared in this country is better triturat ed, and does not yield the quantity of oil which renders the other so disagreeable. When well prepared and properly boiled, (which is an operation of more delicacy than is commonly imagined) it is an excellent nutrient food for people whose stomachs are weak.
Chocolate has had many virtues ascribed to it, although modern physicians do not recognise them. Its chief vir tue appears to consist in its being very agreeable to most palates, easily digested, and very nutritive.
Chocolate, fresh ground, and cooled in tin vessels, be comes highly electrical, as was observed by Mr This property it retains until it has been much handled. It also loses it on being di ied and powdered, but regains it when the chocolate is well mixed with some olive oil in an iron pot. These facts have given rise to some con jectures, which we need not repeat. See Voyage a la Terrelernie par Depons, Sze.; Cullen's Materia Medica; (e.