Chapter IX: Section I (1)

DRIED LEAVES, SEEDS, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES USED IN THE PREPARATION OF POPULAR DIETETIC BEVERAGES.

No substances are so essentially necessary to mankind, or form such important articles of commerce, as those which we come first to consider, the dietetic products--cacao, coffee, tea, and sugar. The consumption of these in all civilized countries is immense, notwithstanding that in many they have been fettered with heavy fiscal duties. The investigation of the culture of the plants from which they are obtained, and the manufacture of the products, is a very curious object of research.

CACAO OR COCOA.

The chocolate nuts or seeds, termed cacao, are the fruit of species of _Theobroma_, an evergreen tree, native of the Western Continent. That commonly grown is _T. cacao_; but Lindley enumerates two other species, _T. bicolor_, a native of New Granada; and _T. Guianensis_, with yellow flowers, a native of Guiana. The seeds being nourishing and agreeable to most people, are kept in the majority of houses in America, as a part of the provisions of the family. By pressure they yield fatty oil, called butter of cacao. They also contain a crystalline principle analogous to caffeine, called theobromine. The common cacao of the shops consists generally of the roasted beans, and sometimes of the roasted integuments of the beans, ground to powder. The consumption of cacao in the United Kingdom is about three millions of pounds annually, yielding a revenue of £15,500. Few tropical products are more valuable or more useful as food to man than cacao. It is without any exception the cheapest food that we can conceive, and were it more generally employed, so that the berries should not be more than two, three, or, at most, six months old, from the time of gathering (for, if kept longer, they lose their nutritive properties), even a smaller quantity than that usually taken in a cup would suffice: in fact, cacao cannot be _too_ new. The cacao beans lie in a fruit somewhat like a cucumber, about five inches long and three-and-a-half inches thick, which contains from twenty to thirty beans, arranged in five regular rows with partitions between, and which are surrounded with a rose-colored spongy substance, like that of water melons. There are fruits, however, so large as to contain from forty to fifty beans. Those grown in the West India islands, as well as Berbice and Demerara, are much smaller, and have only from six to fifteen; their development being less perfect than other parts of South America. After the maturation of the fruit, when their green colour has changed to a dark yellow, they are plucked, opened, their beans cleared of the marrowy substance, and spread out to dry in the air. In the West Indies they are immediately packed up for the market when they are dried; but in Caraccas they are subjected to a species of slight fermentation, by putting them into tubs or chests, covering them with boards or stones, and turning them over every morning to equalize the operation. They emit a good deal of moisture, and lose the natural bitterness and acrimony of their taste by this process, as well as some of their weight. Instead of wooden tubs, pits or trenches dug in the ground are sometimes had recourse to for curing the beans; an operation called earthing. They are, lastly, exposed to the sun and dried. According to Lampadius, the kernels of the West India cacao beans contain in 100 parts, besides water, 53.1 of fat or oil, 16.7 of an albuminous brown matter, which contains all the aroma of the bean; 10.91 of starch, 7¾ of gum or mucilage, 0.9 of lignine, and 2.01 of a reddish dye-stuff, somewhat akin to the pigment of cochineal. The husks form 12 per cent, of the weight of the beans. The fatty matter is of the consistence of tallow, white, of a mild agreeable taste, and not apt to turn rancid by keeping. It melts only at 112 degrees Fahr., and should, therefore, make tolerable candles. It is obtained by exposing the beans to strong pressure in canvas bags, after they have been steamed or soaked in boiling water for some time. From five to six ounces of butter may be thus obtained from a pound of cacao. It has a reddish tinge when first expressed, but it becomes white by boiling with water.

The beans, being freed from all spoiled and mouldy portions, are to be gently roasted over a fire in an iron cylinder, with holes in its ends for allowing the vapors to escape, the apparatus being similar to a coffee-roaster. When the aroma begins to be well developed, the roasting is known to be finished, and the beans must be turned out, cooled, and freed by fanning and sifting from their husks. The kernels are then to be converted into a paste, either by trituration in a mortar heated to 130 degrees Fahr., or by a powerful mill.[1] The cacao tree resembles our dwarf apple tree both in body and branches, but the leaf, which is of a dark green, is considerably broader and larger. The nuts are of the color and about the size of an almond, and hang eighteen to thirty together by a slender stringy film, enclosed in a pod. A ripe pod is of a beautiful yellow, intermixed with crimson streaks; when dried, it shrivels up and changes to a deep brown; the juice squeezed from the mucilaginous pulp contained in the husks of these nuts appears like cream, and has a very grateful taste of a cordial quality. The nuts have a light pleasant smell, and an unctuous, bitterish, roughish (not ungrateful) taste. Those of Nicaragua and Caracas are the most agreeable and are the largest; those of the French Antilles, and our own West India islands, are the most unctuous.

The Mexicans, in preparing the chocolate paste, add some long pepper, a little annatto, and lastly vanilla; some add cinnamon, cloves and anise, and those who love perfumes, musk and ambergris.

The finest American cacao is said to be that of Soconusco, but the principal imports are from Caracas and Guayaquil, which is of a very good quality. The province of Barcelona, adjoining Caracas exports annually from 200,000 to 300,000 cwt.

The very large shipments from Guayaquil are shown by the following return. Of this quantity Spain takes the largest portion, Mexico the next, and England receives but a very small quantity.

Cacao exported from Guayaquil:--

lbs.
1833 6,605,786
1834 10,999,853
1835 13,800,851
1836 10,918,565
1837 8,520,121
1838 7,199,057
1839 12,169,787
1840 14,266,942

The exports of cacao from the port of La Guayra, has been as follows in the years ending December 31.

Fanegas.
1850 40,181
1851 47,951
1852 54,083

Five fanegas are equal to one English quarter. The price of cacao was, at the close of 1852, sixteen dollars the fanega.

The province of Caracas, according to Humboldt, at the end of the last century, produced annually 150,000 fanegas of cacao, of which two-thirds were exported to Spain, and the remainder locally consumed. The shipments from the port of La Guayra alone averaged 80,000 to 100,000, or nearly double the present shipments. In the early part of the present century the captain-generalship of Caracas produced nearly 200,000 fanegas, of which about 145,000 were sent direct to Europe. The province of Caracas then produced 150,000 fanegas; Maracaibo, 20,000; Cumana, 18,000, and New Barcelona, 5,000.

The vallies of Aragua, in the province of Caracas, those of Cariaco, Campano, of Rio Caribe and the banks of the river Caroni, in Spanish Guiana, produce excellent cacao in abundance.

The tree there bears fruit in four years after it has been planted, the following year still more, and increases in fecundity until the ninth or tenth year, when it is in full bearing.

The banks of the Magdalena, in the vicinity of Santa Martha and Carthagena, are famed for the excellent cacao they produce. "This tree," says Bonnycastle (Spanish America, vol. 1, p. 257), "is indigenous, seldom exceeds the diameter of seven inches, and is extremely beautiful when laden with its fruit, which are disposed on short stalks over the stem and round the great branches, resembling citrons, from their yellow color, and warty appearance. The leaves are attenuate, stalked, drooping, about a foot long and three inches broad, elliptic, oblong, pointed, slightly wavy, entire, and very smooth on both sides; with one mid-rib and many transverse ones, connected by innumerable veins. The petals of the flower are yellow, the calyx of a light rose-color, and the flowers themselves are small and placed on tufts on the sides of the branches, with single foot-stalks, about an inch long. Its fruit is red, or a mixture of red and yellow, and about three inches in diameter, with a fleshy rind half-an-inch thick; the pulp is whitish and of the consistence of butter, containing the seed; these seeds are generally twenty-five in number in each fruit, and when first gathered are of a flesh color, and form a nice preserve if taken just before they are ripe. Each tree yields about two or three pounds of fruit annually, and comes to maturity the third year after planting from the seed; it also bears leaves, flowers, or fruit all the year round, the usual seasons for gathering being June and December. The excellence of the Magdalena chocolate may be attributed to the moist nature of the soil, as the plant never thrives where the ground is hard and dry, or cannot be irrigated."

_Mode of cultivation in the Colombian Republics_--Plantations of cacao were speedily multiplied in Colombia, and the soil so admirably seconded the labors of the planter, that in the produce abundance was united to excellence. The cacao of this quarter ranks next to that of Soconusco. It is well known that the best commercial recommendation of cacao is that of coming from Caracas. But even in these provinces the quality varies. The cacao of Orituco is superior to that of other places, and a quantity of equal bulk weighs twenty per cent. more. The cacao of the coast comes next, and obtains a preference over that of the interior.

The plantations of cacao are all to the north of the chain of mountains which coast the sea, and in the interior country. The former extend from Cumana to the mouth of the Tocaygo; the latter are situate in the vallies of Tuy, Orituco, Ocumare, Cura, Marrin, Tare, Santa Theresa, Santa Lucia, Zuapira, Santa Philippo, Barquisimeto, Valencia, Gruige and Cariaco.

All kinds of soil are not equally adapted to the culture of cacao, still less are all exposures; but an analysis of the soil destined to this culture never furnishes indications on which reliance can be placed. No regard should be had to color or composition; it is only requisite that it should be friable to a certain depth, which is ascertained by the size of the trees with which it is covered; this sign determines the land proper for cacao.

A suitable situation is not so easily found. It should be exposed as little as possible to the north, and be on the borders of a river, which may communicate moisture to the soil in dry seasons, and receive its drainings in times of rain. A preference is particularly to be given to land which can receive from the river the benefits of irrigation without being exposed to injury from its overflow.

After having chosen the land, it should be cleared of all trees, shrubs, and other plants. This operation is performed in various ways. It is customary in Colombia to commence felling the trees immediately after the rains, that is, about the month of November; the wood, after being cut, is left to dry, then collected in heaps and burnt.

As soon as the new plantation is cleared, it is crossed with small ditches, in directions according to the declivity of the soil. These serve to drain the stagnant waters, to carry off the rains, and to irrigate or water the soil whenever necessary. The _alignement_ is then laid out, in which the cacao trees are to be arranged. They are planted in triangles or squares. In either case, there is always in the centre an alley, bordered by cacao trees, and running from east to west. When they are planted in squares, this alley is crossed by another running from north to south. The cacao plants should be placed at fifteen or sixteen feet (French measure) from each other, in good soil; and about thirteen or fourteen feet in soil of inferior quality.

This is almost the only tree in nature to which the enlivening beams of the sun are obnoxious. It requires to be sheltered from their ardour; and the mode of combining this protection with the principles of fertility, forms a very essential part of the skill which its cultivation demands. The cacao tree is mingled with other trees, which guard it from the rays of the sun, without depriving it of the benefit of their heat. The _Erythrina_ and the banana are employed for this purpose. The latter, by the rapidity of its growth, and the magnitude of its leaves, protect it for the first year. The erythrina endures at least as long as the cacao; it is not every soil, however, that agrees with it. It perishes after a while in sandy and clayey ground, but it flourishes in such as combine those two ingredients.

In the Antilles this protection cannot be given to cacao, as it would expose the plantation to destruction by every hurricane. Besides, the cacao succeeds but indifferently there, and is much less oily than in other parts.

The quality of the soil, and the species of the erythrina, should determine the distance at which they ought to be placed. That kind which the Spaniards call _bucare anaveo_, is planted in a fertile soil, at the distance of two alleys, that is to say, at each second range of cacao trees. That which they call _bucare peonio_, is placed at three alleys in good soils (about forty-eight French feet).

The former species of erythrina is that which elevates itself the highest. The second species has many thorns, the upper surface of the leaf is darker and the lower whiter. Both kinds should be cut in the wane of the moon, and remain in the shade until its increase, at which time they should be planted. It is much preferable, however, to take them from a nursery.

In one range of cacao trees a banana is placed between two cacaos, and an erythrina between the two following. In the other range a banana is placed between each cacao tree, and no erythrinas, so that the latter are at the distance of two alleys. The banana and the erythrina are first planted, and when a shelter from the sun is thus provided, the hole for the cacao is made, around which are planted four stalks of the yucca plant, at the distance of two feet from each other. At the end of two months the cacao is planted. The smaller the plant is, the better. There are, nevertheless, soils subject to worms where the small plants do not thrive; but, excepting in this particular, the small plants are preferable, because the large require more labor for their transportation and planting; many of them die, and those which survive bud and shoot forth, but are never of any value.

The cacao plant should not exceed thirty-six inches in size when transplanted; if larger, it succeeds with difficulty, as will be shown.

The nurseries of cacao demand an excellent soil, well prepared, where the water does not remain. They should be well sheltered from the sun. Small knolls of earth are formed, in each of which are put two seeds of cacao, in such a manner that they are parallel with the level of the ground. During the first twenty days the seeds are covered with two layers of banana or other leaves. If necessary, the ground is watered; but the water is not suffered to remain. The most suitable time for sowing is in November.

Where there is not a facility for watering, the planting of the cacao should take place in the rainy season; but when the former is practicable, it is best to plant in dry weather and assist nature by irrigation, since it is then in the power of the cultivator to give the exact quantity of moisture necessary. But, in all cases, care should be taken that the plants are not wet in the interval between their being taken out of the ground and replanted.

When the bananas grow old, they should be carefully felled, lest the cacaos should be injured by their accidental fall. They are totally removed as soon as the erythrina yields sufficient shade; this operation gives more air to the trees of the plantation, and encourages their growth.

Until the cacao attains four feet in height, it is trimmed to the stem. If it shoots forth several branches, they are reduced to three, at equal distances; and, in proportion as the plant increases, the leaves which appear on the three branches are stripped off. If they bend much, and incline towards the earth, they are tied in bunches, so that the tree may not remain crooked. The branches, which are trimmed, are cut at the distance of two fingers from the tree. The suckers which spring from the tree are also removed, as they only live at its expense.

_Enemies of the tree_.--The cacao trees should, as already stated, have sufficient shade to prevent their being burned by the sun. If they are much exposed to its rays, their branches are scattered, crack, and the tree dies. They are also infested with worms, which gnaw the bark all around, then attack the interior and destroy them. The only remedy which has hitherto been found, is to employ people to kill these worms, which are deposited by a small, scaly winged insect, which gnaws the tree; as soon as it hears the approach of its destroyers, it lets itself fall, and trusts to its wings for safety.

The color of this insect is a mixture of ash color and white. If pressed, it emits a sound something similar to the noise of water thrown on a very hot substance. It has two small horns on its head, the points of which are directed upwards. It is so lively that, even when the head is separated from the body, it is a long time in dying. To deposit its progeny it makes small holes in the tree.

At the commencement of the winter, or rainy season, another worm makes its appearance, which devours the leaves of the young cacao plant. This species of worm is called _goaseme_, and they are in some years so abundant, that all the people of the plantation are solely employed in destroying them. This worm is four inches in length, and of the thickness of a finger. It is sometimes called _angaripola_, or Indian, on account of the vivacity of its colors. It is believed that these worms are mediately produced by other large worms in the earth, from which are engendered butterflies, who lay their eggs on the leaves of the cacao. These eggs are full of small worms, which feed on the leaves of the cacao, and appear in clusters of the size of a shilling. They are sought and destroyed with great attention, as they occasion considerable damage. Those which escape lodge themselves in the earth, and in the succeeding year are changed into butterflies. At the time when the worm makes its appearance, it is necessary to make fires, which should not be so large as to injure the cacao, yet sufficient to attract and burn the butterfly.

The plantations of cacao in the valley of Tuy, the quarters of Marrin, Cuba, Sabana, Ocumare, San Francis, &c., are subject to another species of worm called _rasquilla_. It multiplies in the dry seasons.

There are small insects, called by the Spaniards _accerredores_, of the same figure with those which eat the bark of the cacao, but larger and of a blackish colour. They feed on the branches of the tree; are always found upon those branches which they have cut; and the evil can only be obviated by killing them.

The worms called _vachacos_ occasion also much damage. They eat the leaf and the flower. To destroy them it is necessary to seek them in their nests in the earth. Water is thrown on the spot, and stirred, as in making mortar. By this means their young are crushed, and the evil is diminished, if it be not entirely removed.

A parasitical plant often attaches itself to a branch of the cacao tree which it covers over and causes to wither, by nourishing itself with the substance of the plant. The only remedy is to remove it.

When the cacao trees are in a bearing state, they are subject to a disease called _tache_. This is a black taint, or stain, which attacks the trees, encircling them below, and kills them. The mode of preservation is to make, in the beginning, a slight notch that shall pierce the bark. But if the taint is extensive, it is necessary to cut all the affected part. It then exudes a liquid and is healed. The bark remains of a violet color in the part that has been tainted.

The other enemies of the cacao are the agouti, stag, squirrel, monkey, &c. The agouti produces most havoc. It often destroys in one night all the hopes of the proprietor.

Birds are not less injurious to the cacao. The whole class of parrots, in particular the great Ara, which destroys for the pleasure of destroying, and, the parroquets, which come in numerous flocks, conspire also to ruin the plantations of cacao.

_Means of preserving a plantation_.--It is necessary that a cacao plantation should have always shade and irrigation; the branches of the plant should be cleared of the lichens that form on them; the worms destroyed; and no large herbs or shrubs and mosses permitted to grow near, since the least disadvantage resulting therefrom would be the loss of all the fruit that should fall into these thickets. But it is most essential to deepen the trenches which carry off the water, in proportion as the plant increases in size, and as the roots of course pierce deeper; for if the trenches are left at a depth of three feet, while the roots are six feet in the earth, it follows that the lower part of the cacao plant is in a situation of too great humidity, and rots at the level of the water. This precaution contributes not only to make the plantation more durable, but also to render the crop more productive. It is necessary, also, to abstain from cutting any branch from cacao plants that are already bearing. Such an operation might occasion the subsequent crop to be stronger; but the plants become enervated, and often perish, according to the quality of the soil and the number of branches cut off.

If the earth of the plantations be pressed and trampled down by animals, the duration of the plant is diminished. Irrigation, made with judgment, maintains them long in a state of produce.

_Withering of the fruit._--The fruit of the cacao withers on the tree from three causes:--

First.--When the plantation is, during a long time, inundated with water. I have seen plantations of cacao, which had only been covered with water thirty hours, and of which the fruit was totally withered.

Second.--From abundant rains, particularly in very damp valleys. This is only to be remedied by keeping the plantation well drained, that the water may not remain on it.

Third.--A want of necessary irrigation, and the watering of the plantation under an ardent sun. The vapor from the earth kills the fruit. If the rains are deficient for a time, and an excessive rain succeeds, the fruit of the cacao also withers.

This dessication or withering takes place everywhere; but in some places the surplus of fruit, which the tree is unable to nourish, is alone subject to it. In others, as Araquita and Caucagua, it withers in proportion to the northerly rains. An unsuitable soil occasions another kind of decay. The pods become stinted, containing some good and some bad seeds. The Spaniards call this _cocosearse_, which means defective.

_Harvest of the cacao_.--The tree yields two principal crops in a year, one about St. John's day, the other towards the end of December. The cacao however ripens and is gathered during the whole year. But in all seasons the planters of the Central American republics make it a point, so far as possible, to collect their crops only at the decline of the moon; because experience proves that this precaution renders the cacao more solid, and less liable to spoil.

To collect the fruit, those negroes and Indians are employed who have the sharpest sight, that only the ripe fruit may be gathered. The most robust and active are chosen to carry it to the places where the beans are to be shaken out. The aged and maimed are employed to do this. The operation is performed on a floor well swept, and covered with green leaves, on which they place the cacao. Some open the pod, and others strike out the beans with a small piece of wood, which must not be sharp, lest it should injure them.

The good and bad beans must not be mingled together. There are four sorts of cacao in every crop; the ripe and in good condition, the green but sound, the worm-eaten, and the rotten. The first quality is best, the second is not bad; but the two others should be rejected.

As soon as that which is not fully ripe begins to show specks, it must be separated. As to the pods which are not perfectly ripe, they should remain in heaps during three days under green banana leaves, that they may ripen before they are hulled. When the cacao is stored, great care is necessary not to leave amongst it pieces of the pod or leaves, or any other excrementitious particles. This care must be repeated every time that it is removed from the store, or replaced in it.

The cacao must always be exposed to the sun on the fourth day after it has been gathered, and this exposure should be daily repeated until it is perfectly dry. When that is the case, the beans burst on being squeezed, their shell resounds when struck, and they no longer become heated when placed in heaps; the latter is the best proof that the moisture injurious to their preservation is dissipated. If the cacao is not sufficiently exposed to the sun, it becomes mouldy; if too much, it withers, and easily pulverises--in either case it soon rots.

When the quantity of cacao gathered is considerable, it is placed in the sunshine by a hundred quintals at a time, unless the cultivator has a sufficient number of persons employed to expose a greater quantity. This operation is indispensable, to prevent it from becoming mouldy. If the rains prevent this exposure to the sun, it is necessary, as soon as it is sufficiently cleaned or purified, to spread it in apartments, galleries, or halls, with which the plantation must be provided; this operation cannot be delayed without danger of losing the crop.

It is to be wished that stoves were employed to dry the cacao when the sun fails, but this expedient, so simple and important, is generally unknown.

It is almost universally believed that the most essential precautions for preserving the cacao consists in gathering it at the decline of the moon. I believe that they may more seriously calculate on the care of depositing it in apartments so hermetically closed that the air cannot penetrate; it would be advisable to make these apartments of wood, for the more perfect exclusion of moisture. The floor should be elevated two feet; under the floor a pan of coals is placed, covered with a funnel, the point of which enters into the heap of cacao and then diffuses the vapor. In the apartment which contains the cacao, some persons place bottles of vinegar, slightly stopped with paper, to prevent the formation of worms.

The beans which begin to show specks, may be preserved from entire corruption by a slight application of brine. This occasions a small degree of fermentation, which is sufficient to destroy the worms, and to preserve the cacao during a considerable time from new attacks. Why is not this preservative also employed after the cacao is dried, and when placed in the store, where it awaits the purchaser?

At St. Philip they make use of smoke to preserve the cacao; it is also ascertained that fine salt, thrown in small quantities on the cacao, protects it from worms.

Much has been done for the cacao when it has been cleared of all green or dead beans, and extraneous substances; when it has received no bruise or injury in the operation of drying, and when it has been subsequently kept in a place that is dry and not exposed to the air; yet, even with all these precautions, cacao of the best quality is seldom found marketable at the end of a year.

These circumstances sufficiently prove that the culture of cacao requires attention more than science, vigilance rather than genius, and assiduity in preference to theory. Choice of ground, distribution and draining of the waters, position of the trees destined to shade the cacao, are almost the only points which require more than common intelligence. Less expense is also required for an establishment of this kind than for any other of equal revenue. One able hand, as I have already said, is sufficient for the preservation and harvest of a thousand plants, each of which should yield at least one pound of cacao, in ground of moderate quality, and a pound and a half in the best soil. By an averaged calculation of twenty ounces to each plant, the thousand plants must produce twelve hundred and fifty pounds, which, at the ordinary price of 31s. 6d. per cwt., would produce about £17 10s. per annum for each laborer. The expenses of the plantation, including those of utensils, machines, and buildings, are also less considerable for cacao than for any other produce. The delay of the first crop, and the accidents peculiar to cacao, can alone diminish the number of planters attached to its culture, and induce a preference to other commodities.

The cacao plant is not in a state of prolific produce till the eighth year in the interior, and the ninth in plantations on the coast. Yet, by a singularity which situation alone can explain, the crops of cacao commence in the ninth year in the valley of Goapa, and at the east of the mouth of the Tuy. In the vicinity of the line, and on the banks of Rio-Negro, the plantations are in full produce on the fourth, or at most the fifth year.

The cacao tree continues productive to the age of fifty years on the coast, and thirty years in the interior of the country.

In general the culture and preparation of cacao receives more attention in the eastern parts of Venezuela than in other places, and even than in the French colonies. It is true that the suitability of the soil contributes much to the quality of the article; but without the assistance derived from art, it would be far from possessing that superiority awarded to it by commerce over the cacao of every other country.

Stevenson ("Travels in South America") speaks of another kind of cacao tree, called moracumba, which is larger than the ordinary species, and grows wild in the woods. The beans under the brown husk are composed of a white, solid matter, almost like a lump of hard tallow. The natives take a quantity of these, and pass a piece of slender cane through them, and roast them, when they have the delicate flavour of the cacao.

There are several cacao plantations in Surinam. The trees are left to grow their natural height, which is about that of a cherry-tree; their leaves resemble those of the broad-leaved laurel, and are of a dark green colour. The fruit in shape resembles a lemon, but is rather more oval; it is at first green, and, when ripe, yellow. It is said that there are some trees which produce above two hundred, each containing about twenty beans or nuts. The fruit not only proceeds from the branches, but even from the stem; and though there is always ripe and unripe fruit, it is only gathered twice a year. The chocolate is in that colony in general of an inferior quality, known by its dark brown color and rough taste, but the superiority of the cacao depends principally on the soil where the trees are planted.--(Baron Von Sack's "Surinam.")

My friend, Sir R. Schomburgk, in his "Description of British Guiana," says--"While we crossed from the river Berbice to the Essequibo, we met a number of chocolate nut trees, near the abandoned Caribi settlement of Primoss. It is not to be doubted that the trees were originally planted by the Indians, but from their number and the distance from the river, I judged they were propagated by nature. Though they were overshadowed by larger trees, and had for many years been neglected, they had reached nevertheless a height of from thirty to forty feet, and the luxuriant growth and the abundance of fruit, proved that the plant was satisfied with the soil. The forests at the banks of the Rio Branco, in the vicinity of Santa Maria and Carno, abound in wild cacao trees, the fruits of which are collected by the scanty population of that district for their own use."

The cultivation of cacao will be most suitable to the less wealthy individual, as it demands so little labor and outlay. Baron Humboldt observes, in alluding to Spanish America, that cacao plantations are occupied by persons of humble condition, who prepare for themselves and their children a slow but certain fortune; a single laborer is sufficient to aid them in their plantations, and 30,000 trees, once established, assure competence for a generation and a half.

The following have been the total imports of Cacao into the United Kingdom from Mexico and Central America, &c.:--

lbs.
1832 85,642
1834 16,171
1835 211
1836 861,531
1837 564,992
1838 1,681,965
1839 508,307
1840 1,058,015
1841 1,802,547
1842 441,084
1843 1,229,515
(Parl. Paper, No. 426, Sess. 1844.)

Only a few hundred pounds of this is entered annually for home consumption, the great bulk being re-exported.

In 1850 we imported 1,204,572 lbs. from Mexico; 1,231,773 lbs. from Chile; 4,438 lbs. from Venezuela, and 23,538 lbs. from Hayti.

BRAZIL.--A great deal of cacao is raised in different parts of this empire. From the province of Para alone 35,000 bags, valued at £35,000, were exported in the year 1845. Mr. Edwards, in his "Voyage up the River Amazon," gives an interesting account:--

"We were now (he says) in the great cacao region, which, for an
extent of several hundred square miles, borders the river. The cacao
trees are low, not rising above fifteen or twenty feet, and are
distinguishable from a distance by the yellowish green of their
leaves, so different from aught else around them. They are planted
at intervals of about twelve feet, and, at first, are protected from
the sun's fierceness by banana trees, which, with their broad
leaves, form a complete shelter. Three years after planting the
trees yield, and therefore require little attention, or, rather,
receive not any. From an idea that the sun is injurious to the
berry, the tree-tops are suffered to mat together until the whole
becomes dense as thatch-work. The sun never penetrates this, and the
ground below is constantly wet. The trunk of the tree grows
irregularly, without beauty, although perhaps by careful training it
might be made as graceful as an apple tree. The leaf is thin, much
resembling our beech, excepting that it is smooth-edged. The flower
is very small, and the berry grows direct from the trunk or
branches. It is eight inches in length, five in diameter, and shaped
much like a rounded double cone. When ripe, it turns from light
green to a deep yellow, and at that time ornaments the tree finely.
Within the berry is a white acid pulp, and embedded in this are from
thirty to forty seeds, an inch in length, narrow and flat. These
seeds are the cacao of commerce. When the berries are ripe, they are
collected into great piles near the house, are cut open with a
tresado, and the seeds, squeezed carelessly from the pulp, are
spread upon mats to dry in the sun. Before being half dried they are
loaded into canoes in bulk, and transmitted to Para. Some of these
vessels will carry four thousand arrobas, of thirty-two pounds
weight each, and, as if such a bulk of damp produce would not
sufficiently spoil itself by its own steaming during a twenty days'
voyage, the captains are in the habit of throwing upon it great
quantities of water, to prevent its loss of weight. As might be
expected, when they arrive at Para it is little more than a heap of
mould, and it is then little wonder that Para cacao is considered
the most inferior in foreign markets. Cacao is very little drunk
throughout the province, and in the city we never saw it except at
the cafés. It is a delicious drink when properly prepared, and one
soon loses relish for that nasty compound known in the States as
chocolate, whose main ingredients are damaged rice and soap fat. The
cacao trees yield two crops annually, and, excepting in harvest
time, the proprietors have nothing to do but lounge in their
hammocks. Most of these people are in debt to traders in Santarem,
who trust them to an unlimited extent, taking a lien upon their
crops. Sometimes the plantations are of vast extent, and one can
walk for miles along the river, from one to another, as freely as
through an orchard. No doubt a scientific cultivator might make the
raising of cacao very profitable, and elevate its quality to that of
Guyaquil."

Cacao shipped from Brazil to the United Kingdom, for nine years, ending 1835:--

lbs.
1827 3,992,449
1828 1,174,168
1829 2,442,456
1830 1,308,694
1831 1,716,614
1832 2,198,709
1833 2,402,803
1834 1,591,600
1835 1,678,769

_Cultivation in the West India Islands_.--The only English colonies where this nutritious and wholesome substance is now cultivated to any extent, are Trinidad, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent.

In Jamaica and British Guiana it has given place to the production of sugar, and though it forms such an important article in the imports and consumption of the United Kingdom, the quantity introduced from British plantations is barely equal to the demand. The imports from Jamaica in 1831 were 6,684 lbs., and in 1838, 16,564 lbs.; while the imports since have been merely nominal. Of 5,014,681 lbs. imported in 1841, 2,920,298 lbs. were furnished by the British West Indian colonies, 1,802,547 lbs. came from the Colombian republics, and 269,794 lbs. were brought from Brazil. Trinidad furnishes by far the largest proportion of the West Indian supplies, the imports from thence in 1841 having been 2,500,000 lbs., while the imports from all the other islands were but 427,000 lbs. In 1850, 4,750,000 lbs. were shipped from Trinidad, whilst in 1851 the quantity was nearly as much.

Trinidad.--Although this tree is indigenous to many, if not most of the tropical parts of America, it was first extensively cultivated in Mexico; and it is remarkable that the words cacao and chocolate are both of Mexican origin. From Mexico the variety called Creole cacao it is supposed was transplanted to the West India colonies; that variety called Forastero (stranger) came from the Brazils. The latter tree is the most productive, but the former gives the best fruit, insomuch that few persons now plant the Forastero cacao. There are two or three indigenous species found growing wild in the forests of Trinidad, viz., _T. Sylvestris cacao_, _T. Guianensis_, and another sort.

There are few, perhaps no agricultural or horticultural pursuits, so delightful (observes Mr. Joseph, in his "History of Trinidad,") as that of the cultivation of the cacao. It is planted in rows, intersecting each other at right angles, at the distance of from twelve to fifteen feet, according to the nature of the soil. The tree is not suffered to grow higher than about fifteen feet, and its broad rich foliage, the hues of which vary from a light green to a dark red, loaded with yellow and dark red pods, which contain the chocolate bean, are beautiful objects; these alleys are shaded by rows of magnificent trees, called _Bois Immortel_ by the French and English, by the Spaniards the Madre de Cacao. It is the _Erythrina umbrosa_ or _arborea_ of Linnæus. Like the Bignonia or Pouie, this tree, at particular seasons, throws off its foliage and is covered with blossoms; those of the Erythrina are of a brilliant red color, justifying its Greek appellation. In this state they are literally dazzling to behold--no object in the vegetable world looks more striking than the alleys of a cacao walk shaded by a forest above them of the Bois Immortel.

I have been obligingly furnished by Mr. W. Purdie, the able Government botanist of Trinidad, with a short essay upon the cultivation of the cacao tree, with which many of the valleys of that island are so beautifully adorned, and which, at one time, poured into that now unfortunate colony so large a stream of wealth. Fortunately the cacao planter of the island has managed to survive the many years of depression under which--like sugar now--the cacao cultivations lingered and sunk, and which brought the once wealthy planter down to poverty and misery. His prospects, however, are gradually improving.

The opinions put forth by Mr. Purdie, on the subject of which he treats, will be found to run counter to the long-established practice hitherto pursued in the treatment of cacao plantations; but it must not be forgotten that these are the opinions of a person with whom the study of trees, their physiology and functions, has been not merely an amusing science, but an adopted employment, and whose acquirements in this respect, previous to his arrival in the colony, recommended him for selection as the agent to extend through South America (the great cacao region) the investigations of one of the most noted botanical gardens in Europe.

Mr. Purdie says:--

"In the present depressed times, it behoves us to look well into the
resources of our fertile island, particularly as far as any
improvement can be suggested capable of averting, at least, a part
of the misery and ruin that is hovering over us, and which is too
eagerly borne on the lips of all classes of the community, instead
of using our efforts to do what we can to meet the difficulty; but
few seem to inquire whether we make the most of our present means or
not, whilst every one rather joins in the cry that sugar fetches
little or nothing, and it is no uncommon thing to hear the complaint
transferred from sugar to cacao.

It is but too true that the markets are at present lamentably
against the most important branch of our industry, under the present
manner of sugar cultivation and manufacture in this island. But it
can hardly be admitted that the same is the case in that of
cacao--also a very important branch of our agriculture.

My attention has been lately directed to the average produce per
tree, which will, I hope, throw some light on its cultivation. From
fifteen cacao trees, which are all there are at St. Ann's, I have
this year gathered 115 lbs. of cacoa (dried), and at present there
is at least 50 lbs. more ripe on the same trees. This gives 165 lbs.
of cacao from fifteen trees, or 11 lbs. per tree. These cannot be
considered fine trees; on the contrary, they are what would be
considered ordinary ones; therefore the average in this case is
fair, and differs materially from selecting the produce of fifteen
trees from a large plantation, and giving the average return of what
might be obtained from cacao cultivation. Last year these trees did
not average more than 2 lbs. per tree, and I attribute the increase
of crop to the thinning out of both the cacao and shade trees.

In a former letter to the cacao-planters of Trinidad, I recommended
twenty-four to thirty feet from tree to tree as the proper distance;
but so as to meet the feelings of those who, unfortunately for
themselves, consider every cacao tree cut down a sacrifice, I
propose that the trees be thinned out to twenty-four feet, and that,
at intervals of twenty rows at most, avenues of fifty feet in both
directions should be left. After this, it will be better seen what
may be necessary to be done to each individual tree; neither should
the shade trees be forgotten; as a general rule, they are
prejudicially thick.

By attending to this, I am quite satisfied that a very material
increase in the produce will be seen; indeed, I may say that on this
depends the chief difference of 1¼ lb. and 11 lbs. per tree; for I
consider it a very fair inference, that the average obtained here
can be realised in any other place in this island, and to any
extent, under the same circumstances of light and air, unless on
very poor soil, of which we fortunately have but little.

At twenty-four feet apart there would be seventy-five trees per
acre, or 250 per quarrée. This, at 11 lbs. per tree, gives 2,750
lbs. of dried cacao per quarrée, at 5 dollars per 100 lbs., gives
137 dollars 50 cents gross; deducting 80 dollars per quarrée
expenses, leaves 57 dollars 60 cents net profit. Thus an estate of
120 acres, or 36 quarrées, would contain 9,000 trees, at 11 lbs. per
tree will give 33,000 lbs. of cacao, at 5 dollars gives 4,350
dollars gross per annum; deducting 80 dollars per quarrée (a much
more liberal sum than is at present laid out), leaves a net balance
of 1,950 dollars, or 16 dollars 25 cents per acre.

Now this, it must be remembered, would be the produce from 9,000
trees, and from an estate containing only 36 quarrées of land (which
cannot be considered a large one); what, then, might be expected
from estates containing 40,000 trees?

I have been recently favoured with the following average return of
cacao in this island, which I have no doubt will be considered a
fair one. I insert it in full, and, from the very low return, it
shows a lamentable deficiency in the cultivation of this most
grateful tree:--

'The average number of cacoa trees in a quarrée of land is 868.

'1st. The estates throughout the island are generally planted at a
distance of 12 feet by 12, and 13½ feet by 13½. Those planted at 12
by 12 contain 969 trees in the quarrée, and those at 13½ by 13½
contain 767 trees, the area of the quarrée being taken at 139,697
superficial feet. There may be in the island about 60 quarrées in
all, planted at 15 by 15 feet.

'2nd. The actual annual value of a quarrée of land planted in cacoa
is ten fanegas, or 1¼ lb. to a tree.

'It is to be observed that this is the general return from each tree
as estates are now cultivated, but if planters had the means of
keeping their estates in high cultivation, each cacoa tree would
produce 2 lbs. on an average.

'3rd. The annual average cost of cultivating a quarrée in cacao, and
manufacturing the produce therefrom, is 35 dollars, in the imperfect
manner it is carried on at present, thereby giving only 10 fanegas
per quarrée.'

I believe there are many estates in the island where the average
distance is less than 12 by 12; however, to give the present mode
the full benefit of the return, I will adopt, for comparison's sake,
the maximum number of trees; so that 960 trees per quarrée, at l¼
lb. per tree, gives 1,211 lbs. of cacao, at 5 dollars per 100 lbs.
is worth 60 dollars,[2] gross return per quarrée; deducting 36
dollars, not 80 dollars, for expenses, which leaves 24 dollars per
quarrée net, or about 7 dollars 75 cents per acre.

This is a startling account from lands among the most fertile in the
world, and from a plant, under fair treatment, next to the sugar
cane, perhaps the most grateful for the care bestowed, more
especially when we consider that more than ten times that quantity
might be obtained with a comparatively insignificant _outlay of
money_.

If such, then, be the case, as stated in the above report (and it is
to be regretted that it is too near the truth), apathy on the part
of those whose interests are so much concerned is unwarrantable. It
is not enough to say that our fathers must have known the proper way
to plant cacao; this is but a lame excuse, and not sufficient to
dispense with any exertions of the present generation, beyond merely
collecting whatever fruit may come, as it were, fortuitously.
Moreover, at the time the present cacao plantations were established
in this island, its cultivation was comparatively little known; it
is therefore likely that they might have erred, as they undoubtedly
did, in cramming them so close together; but notwithstanding this,
by a proper system of thinning, the evils might have been easily
obviated, and large crops ensured.

A few mornings ago, a cacao planter from Santa Cruz called on me,
and in conversation stated that the only place where he had anything
like a crop of cacao at present, was where the hurricane of the 11th
of October had devastated his estate most severely, and which he at
that time considered a ruinous visitation. I hope the lesson will
not be lost on him.

In Jamaica it is found necessary to prune the coffee trees yearly,
which is done with as much care as gooseberry or currant bushes in
England; but, notwithstanding this, I remember a friend of mine in
Jamaica telling me of the extraordinary difference on his coffee
plantation under the management of a person who understood and
attended more particularly to the pruning of his trees.

Lunan, in his 'Hortus Jamaicensis,' published in 1814, gives a very
elaborate article on the cacao, although its cultivation was almost
extinct in his day in that island. He, however, appears to have
derived his information chiefly from Blume, who wrote a short
account of Jamaica, in 1672, at which time cacao was the chief
export of the island. Lunan attributes its downfall to heavy
ministerial exaction, which was then, he says, upwards of 480 per
cent. on its marketable value. Speaking of the average weight of
cacao per tree, he has the following:--'The produce of one tree is
generally estimated at about 20 lbs. of nuts. The produce per acre
in Jamaica has been rated at 1,000 lbs. weight per annum, allowing
for bad years. In poor soils, and under bad management, the produce
of the tree rarely exceeds 8 lbs. weight.' He also says--'When the
cacao plants are six months old, the planter from this period must
not be too fond of cleaning the plantation from grass and herbage,
because they keep the ground cool; but all creeping, climbing
plants, and such weeds as grow high enough to overtop the cacao,
should be destroyed.' He gives the distance from tree to tree at 18
feet. I have long since been of opinion that it is of less
consequence to clean the ground beneath the trees than to attend to
the top-pruning of the shade trees, as well as to the cacao
(although the former is very desirable, it is nevertheless a
subordinate consideration). Under the present mode of cultivation
the ground-cleaning is the only one at all attended to, and that
badly.

A very important economy might also be made in the curing of the
cacao, by which much time would be saved, and consequently expense,
by adopting the same method as is used in Jamaica for drying coffee,
namely, floorings of cement, or, as they are called, barbecues. At
convenient distances in the centre of these floorings (which are
inclined planes) a slightly-raised circular ridge is formed with
cement, leaving an aperture at the lower side to allow the escape of
any water that may have lodged in them. The cacao is easily brought
together in these places in the event of rain, and at night covered
with portable wooden frames, which are readily removed by two men.
In this way the cacao would be dried in a fifth of the time much
more effectually, and of a brighter colour.