Grenada.—There are at least 4000 acres under cocoa in this island. The export duty is 6d. a cwt.
Guadaloupe.—After much neglect, attention ia again being directed to the cultivation here, the plantations being formed with treea imparted direct from Venezuela.
Jamaica.—Two centuriea einem, the produce, in exceptional years, was reckoned at 20 lb. a tree, and averaged 8 lb. a tree, at 18 ft. apart, in fairly good soil. The import duty, then placed on cocoa by the British Government, cruahed the industry ; under the present more favourable conditiona, however, efforts are being made to reauscitate it.
Martinique.—Owing to the disastrous failure of the crop many years since, cocoa cultivation was long discontinued here ; lately, however, it has been resumed and extended, and the produce is of good quality.
St. Domingo.—The exports were, in 1878, to France, 17,200 lb.; Weat Indies, 6000; Italy, 4800; United States, 1600.
St. Lucia.—Thia island has about 450 acres under cocoa ; the exports are almost stationary. St. Vincent.—The export duty here is 8d. a cwt.
Trinidad.—Cocoa ia the second great ataple of production. The high cultivation bestowed upon the native seed has greatly improved it, so that in aome districts it ia almost to be compared with the 0 creole" of Venezuela. A recent writer from the island says the trees yield 15 lb., and in very good years, 18 lb., clean, dry cocoa at a crop ; but the average yield of the best estates is about 2 lb. a tree per annum, which, at 12 ft. apart, gives 600 lb. an acre. The average of the whole island ia 500 lb. an acre. The best qualities fetch 61.-7l. a cwt. ; the inferior, about half as much. The export duty ia 111d. a cwt. The shipments for the last four years have been as followa :-1876, 8,706,500 lb.; 1877, 8,103,779 ; 1878, 9,392,324 ; 1879, 11,791,032.
General Considerations.—The points essential to success in cocoa cultivation are ;-1, Judicious selection of seeds ; 2, Careful attention to pruning and draining ; 3, Plucking the pods at the right atage ; 4, Nicely regulating the fermentation ; 5, Subjecting the beam to complete desiccation ; this is, perhaps, the moat important consideration of all : they should rattle distinctly on being dis turbed ; 6, Hand picking the dried beans, so as to eliminate leaves, stems, and other rubbish, which greatly lower the value of the sample ; 7, packing while thoroughly dry, in double sacks, or sound barrela (not hogshoads). Steamer transport is adopted wherever available, the advanced coat being more than compensated for by the higher price realized, by reason of the superior condition attained nnder shortened transit.
The consumption of cocoa is constantly increasing, especially in Latin Europe, and there ia no reason to fear over-production for many years to come. In the autumn of 1878, the prices of cocoa advanced 25-75 per cent. according to quality, owing to the failure of the Ecuador crop. The duties on cocoa importations into the United Kingdom are as follows ;—Cocoa, ld. a lb.; huska and shells, 2s. a cwt. ; paste or chocolate, 2d. a lb. The price of cocoa now varies between 71.9. and 108.9. a cwt., according to quality.
The following shows the relative prices (in shillings per cwt.) of the principal branda brought
into the home market in 1878 and 1879 :—Trinidad—sup., 120-5, 91-108; mid. to fine red, 116-9, 81-90; grey and mixed red, 114-5, 75-80. Grenada-110-1, 78-86. Dominica and St. Lucia 110-2, 72-8. Surinam-116-9, 80-90. Cardcas-116-123, 85-105. Para-115-20. Bahia-115-20. Guayaqui/-112-130, 71-90. The Guayaquil and Caracas varieties find the readiest market on the Continent, where they are used chiefly for chocolate manufacture ; the Colonial descriptiona— Trinidad, Grenada, Dominica, &c.—take the lead in the home Market; Bahia, Surinam, &c., are pretty equally distributed. The consumption in this c,ountry is now calculated at about 0.3 lb. per head of population. The total imports were, in 1874, about 18 million lb.; 1875, 16 million ; 1876, 20k million ; 1877, 17 million ; 1878, 18 million. The itnports in 1878 were contributed as follows:—British West Indies, 10,431,608 lb. ; Brazil, 2,518,703 ; Ecuador, 1,655,867; San Domingo, 792,602 ; France, 743,659 ; Holland, 563,558 ; Germany, 288,705; British Guiana, 276,533; West Coast Africa (foreign), 185,197 ; Venezuela, 149,845 ; Surinam, 106,256; United States, B5,903; other countries, 270,190. • substance which, though not a cocoa, yet bears in many respects a close resem blance to that product, is guarsna, a so-called "breqd," yielded by the Paullinia sorbet's, a plant of the order Sapindacae. It is a native of Brazil, and grows abundantly in the province of Amazonas, along the banks of the rivers Tapagos, Rio Negro, &c., as well as in Guiana and Venezuela. The genus, indeed, is a large one, and it is probable that the aeeda of P. Cupana of the Orinoco, aa well as those of many of other species, may be used for alimentary purposes. Guarana is manufactured by the Muraa, Mondrucas, and other tribes of Indians, and is much esteemed, both as a food and as a medicine, throughout Guatemala, Costa Rica, Brazil, and other parts of South America.
The preparation is condueted in the following manner :—The fruit, whick is scarcely as large as a walnut, is gatherea when ripe, and masted intact. Its seeds, numbering about half a dozen, are then taken out, and, after being pounded between stones or mallets, are formed into a thick paste with water, and moulded into cakes and rolls of various forms. These are dried in the sun, or by the fire, by which they become extremely solid and difficult of fracture, and will keep good for any length of time. For use, the rolls are grated to powder, which is very like cocoa in appearance, or they are ground in water, and sweetened ; the beverage thus produced is analogous in its effects to tea and coffee.
The city of Santarem annually exports about 16,000 lb. of guarana, valued at 8d. or 9cd. a lb. at the port, but selling for very much less in the neighbourhood of its production. It figures among the non-officinal substances of the -United States Dispensatory. In Europe, it is but little known as yet ; it is included in the French Pharmaceutical Codex, and its alleged medicinal virtues have occasionally found buyers at as much as 1/. an oz.