Part 3

The almost universal custom is to plant, for temporary shelter, suckers of fruiting bananas, but throughout the Visayas and in Southern Luzon I think abacá could be advantageously substituted. It is true that, as commonly grown, abacá does not make so rank a growth as some of the plantains, but if given the perfect tillage which the cacao plantation should receive, and moderately rich soils, abacá ought to furnish all necessary shade. This temporary shade may be maintained till the fourth or fifth year, when it is to be grubbed out and the stalks and stumps, which are rich in nitrogen, may be left to decay upon the ground. At present prices, the four or five crops which may be secured from the temporary shelter plants ought to meet the expenses of the entire plantation until it comes into bearing.

In the next step, every fourth tree in the fourth or fifth row of cacao may be omitted and its place filled by a permanent shade tree. The planting of shade trees or "madre de cacao" among the cacao has been observed from time immemorial in all countries where the crop is grown, and the primary purpose of the planting has been for shade alone. Observing that these trees were almost invariably of the pulse or legume family, the writer, in the year 1892, raised the question, in the Proceedings of the Southern California Horticultural Society, that the probable benefits derived were directly attributable to the abundant fertilizing microörganisms developed in the soil by these leguminous plants, rather than the mechanical protection they afforded from the sun's rays.

To Mr. O. F. Cook, of the United States Department of Agriculture, however, belongs the credit of publishing, in 1901, a résumé of his inquiries into the subject of the shades used for both the coffee and the cacao, and which fully confirmed the previous opinions that the main benefit derived from these trees was their influence in maintaining a constant supply of available nitrogen in the soil.

That cacao and its wild congenors naturally seek the shelter of well-shaded forests is well established; but having seen trees in these Islands that were fully exposed at all times showing no evidences of either scald, burn, or sun spot, and in every respect the embodiment of vigor and health, we are fully justified in assuming that here the climatic conditions are such as will permit of taking some reasonable liberties with this time-honored practice and supply needed nitrogen to the soil by the use of cheap and effective "catch crops," such us cowpeas or soy beans.

Here, as elsewhere, an Erythrina, known as "dap-dap," is a favorite shade tree among native planters; the rain tree (Pithecolobium saman) is also occasionally used, and in one instance only have I seen a departure from the use of the Leguminosæ, and that in western Mindanao, there is a shade plantation composed exclusively of Cananga odorata, locally known as ilang-ilang.

While not yet prepared to advocate the total exclusion of all shade trees, I am prepared to recommend a shade tree, if shade trees there must be, whose utility and unquestioned value has singularly escaped notice. The tree in question, the Royal Poinciana (Poinciana regia), embodies all of the virtues that are ascribed to the best of the pulse family, is easily procured, grows freely and rapidly from seed or cutting, furnishes a minimum of shade at all times, and, in these Islands, becomes almost leafless, at the season of maturity of the largest cacao crop when the greatest sun exposure is desired.

The remaining preparatory work consists in the planting of intersecting wind breaks at intervals throughout the grove, and upon sides exposed to winds, or where a natural forest growth does not furnish such a shelter belt. Unless the plantation lies in a particularly protected valley, no plantation, however large in the aggregate, should cover more than 4 or 5 hectares unbroken by at least one row of wind-break trees. Nothing that I know of can approach the mango for this purpose. It will hold in check the fiercest gale and give assurance to the grower that after any storm his cacao crop is still on the trees and not on the ground, a prey to ants, mice, and other vermin.

SELECTION OF VARIETIES.

All the varieties of cacao in general cultivation may be referred to three general types, the Criollo, Forastero, and Calabacillo; and of these, those that I have met in cultivation in the Archipelago are the first and second only. The Criollo is incomparably the finest variety in general use, and may perhaps be most readily distinguished by the inexperienced through the ripe but unfermented seed or almond, as it is often called. This, on breaking, is found to be whitish or yellowish-white, while the seeds of those in which the Forastero or Calabacillo blood predominates are reddish, or, in the case of Forastero, almost violet in color. For flavor, freedom from bitterness, facility in curing, and high commercial value, the Criollo is everywhere conceded to be facile princeps.

On the other hand, in point of yield, vigor, freedom from disease, and compatibility to environment it is not to be compared with the others. Nevertheless, where such perfect conditions exist as are found in parts of Mindanao, I do not hesitate to urge the planting of Criollo. Elsewhere, or wherever the plantation is tentative or the conditions not very well known to the planter, the Forastero is to be recommended. The former is commercially known as "Caracas" and "old red Ceylon," and may be obtained from Ceylon dealers; and the latter, the Forastero, or forms of it which have originated in the island, can be procured from Java.

It seems not unlikely that the true Forastero may have been brought to these Islands from Acapulco, Mexico, two hundred and thirty-two years ago, as it was at that time the dominant kind grown in southeastern Mexico, and, if so, the place where the pure type would most likely be found in these Islands would be in the Camarines, Southern Luzon. Aside from the seed characters already given, Forastero is recognized by its larger, thicker, more abundant, and rather more abruptly pointed fruit than Criollo, and its coarse leaves which are from 22 to 50 cm. long by 7 to 13 cm. wide, dimensions nearly double those reached by the Criollo or Calabacillo varieties.

PLANTING.

Planting may be done "at stake" or from the nursery. For the unskilled or inexperienced planter, who has means at hand to defray the greater cost, planting "at stake" is perhaps to be recommended. This is no more than the dropping and lightly covering, during the rainy season, of three or four seeds at the stake where the plant is to stand, protecting the spot with a bit of banana leaf, left till the seeds have sprouted, and subsequently pulling out all but the one strongest and thriftiest plant.

The contingencies to be met by this system are many. The enemies of the cacao seed are legion. Drought, birds, worms, ants, beetles, mice, and rats will all contribute their quota to prevent a good "stand" and entail the necessity of repeated plantings. Success by planting "at stake" is so doubtful that it is rarely followed by experienced planters.

The consequent alternative lies in rearing seedlings in seed beds that are under immediate control, and, when the plants are of sufficient size, in transplanting them to their proper sites in the orchard. In view of the remarkable short-lived vitality of the cacao seed, it is in every way advisable that the untrained grower procure his plants from professional nurserymen, or, if this resource is lacking, that he import the young plants in Wardian cases from some of the many firms abroad who make a specialty of preparing them for foreign markets.

Both of these expedients failing, then it is advised that the seeds be sown one by one in small pots, or, if these are not procurable, in small bamboo tubes, and, for the sake of uniform moisture, plunge them to their rims in any free, light soil in a well-shaded easily protected spot where they may be carefully watered. In three to six months (according to growth) the tube with its included plant may be planted in the open field, when the former will speedily decompose and the growth of the cacao proceed without check or injury.

At best, all of the above suggested methods are but crude expedients to replace the more workmanlike, expeditious, and satisfactory process of planting the conventional nursery grown stock. There is nothing more difficult in the rearing of cacao seedlings than in growing any other evergreen fruit tree. Briefly stated, it is only the finding of a well-prepared, well-shaded seed bed and sowing the seeds in rows or drills, and, when the seedlings are of proper size, in lifting and transferring them to the plantation. But in actual practice there are many details calling for the exercise of trained judgment from the preparation of the seed bed down to the final process of "hardening off," concerning which the reader is referred to the many available text-books on general nursery management.

It may be said for the benefit of those unable to adopt more scientific methods: Let the seed bed be selected in a well-shaded spot, and, if possible, upon a rather stiff, plastic, but well-drained soil. After this is well broken up and made smooth, broadcast over all 3 or 4 inches of well-decomposed leaf mold mixed with sand, and in this sow the seed in furrows about 1 inch deep. This sowing should be made during the dry season, not only to avoid the beating and washing of violent storms but to have the nursery plants of proper size for planting at the opening of the rainy season. The seed bed should be accessible to water, in order that it may be conveniently watered by frequent sprinklings throughout the dry season.

The rich top dressing will stimulate the early growth of the seedling, and when its roots enter the heavier soil below it will encourage a stocky growth. Four or five months later the roots will be so well established in the stiffer soil that if lifted carefully each plant may be secured with a ball of earth about its roots, placed in a tray or basket, and in this way carried intact to the field. Plants thus reared give to the inexperienced an assurance of success not always obtained by the trained or veteran planter of bare rooted subjects.

CULTIVATION.

Planters are united in the opinion that pruning, cutting, or in any way lacerating the roots is injurious to the cacao, and in deference to this opinion all cultivation close to the tree should be done with a harrow-tooth cultivator, or shallow scarifier. All intermediate cultivation should be deep and thorough, whenever the mechanical condition of the soil will permit it. A plant stunted in youth will never make a prolific tree; early and continuous growth can only be secured by deep and thorough cultivation.

Of even more consideration than an occasional root cutting is any injury, however small, to the tree stem, and on this account every precaution should be taken to protect the trees from accidental injury when plowing or cultivating. The whiffletree of the plow or cultivator used should be carefully fendered with rubber or a soft woolen packing that will effectually guard against the carelessness of workmen. Wounds in the bark or stem offer an inviting field for the entry of insects or the spores of fungi, and are, furthermore, apt to be overlooked until the injury becomes deep seated and sometimes beyond repair.

With the gradual extension of root development, cultivation will be reduced to a narrow strip between the rows once occupied by the plantain or the abacá, but, to the very last, the maintenance of the proper soil conditions should be observed by at least one good annual plowing and by as many superficial cultivations as the growth of the trees and the mechanical state of the land will admit.

PRUNING.

When left to its own resources the cacao will fruit for an almost indefinite time. When well and strenuously grown it will bear much more abundant fruit from its fifth to its twenty-fifth year, and by a simple process of renewal can be made productive for a much longer time.

A necessary factor to this result is an annual pruning upon strictly scientific lines. The underlying principle involved is, primarily, the fact that the cacao bears its crop directly upon the main branches and trunk, and not upon spurs or twigs; secondly, that wood under three years is rarely fruitful, and that only upon stems or branches of five years or upward does the maximum fruitfulness occur; that the seat of inflorescence is directly over the axil of a fallen leaf, from whence the flowers are born at irregular times throughout the year.

With this necessary, fundamental information as a basis of operations, the rational system of pruning that suggests itself is the maintenance of as large an extension at all times of straight, well-grown mature wood and the perfecting of that by the early and frequent removal of all limbs or branches that the form of the tree does not admit of carrying without overcrowding.

It is desirable that this extension of the branch system should be lateral rather than vertical, for the greater facility with which fruit may be plucked and possible insect enemies fought; and on this account the leading growths should be stopped when a convenient height has been attained.