Cacao Culture in the Philippines Part 2

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.

When well grown and without accident to its leader, the cacao will naturally branch at from 1 to 1.4 meters from the ground. These primary branches are mostly three to five in number, and all in excess of three should be removed as soon as selection can be made of three strongest that are as nearly equidistant from each other as may be. When these branches are from 80 cm. to 1 meter long, and preferably the shorter distance, they are to be stopped by pinching the extremities. This will cause them and the main stem as well to "break," i. e., to branch in many places.

At this point the vigilance and judgment of the planter are called into greater play. These secondary branches are, in turn, all to be reduced as were the primary ones, and their selection can not be made in a symmetrical whorl, for the habit of the tree does not admit of it, and selection of the three should be made with reference to their future extension, that the interior of the tree should not be overcrowded and that such outer branches be retained as shall fairly maintain the equilibrium of the crown.

This will complete the third year and the formative stage of the plant. Subsequent prunings will be conducted on the same lines, with the modification that when the secondary branches are again cut back, the room in the head of the tree will rarely admit of more than one, at most two, tertiary branches being allowed to remain. When these are grown to an extent that brings the total height of the tree to 3 or 4 meters, they should be cut back annually, at the close of the dry season. Such minor operations as the removal of thin, wiry, or hide-bound growths and all suckers suggest themselves to every horticulturist, whether he be experienced in cacao growing or not. When a tree is exhausted by overbearing, or has originally been so ill formed that it is not productive, a strong sucker or "gourmand" springing from near the ground may be encouraged to grow. By distributing the pruning over two or three periods, in one year the old tree can be entirely removed and its place subst.i.tuted by the "gourmand." During the third year flowers will be abundant and some fruit will set, but it is advisable to remove it while small and permit all of the energy of the plant to be expended in wood making.

From what we know of its flowering habit, it is obvious that every operation connected with the handling or pruning of a cacao, should be conducted with extreme care; to see that the bark is never injured about the old leaf scars, for to just the extent it is so injured is the fruit-bearing area curtailed. Further, no pruning cut should ever be inflicted, except with the sharpest of knives and saws, and the use of shears, that always bruise to some extent, is to be avoided. All the rules that are laid down for the guidance of the pruning of most orchard trees in regard to clean cuts, sloping cuts, and the covering of large wounds with tar or resin apply with fourfold force to the cacao. Its wood is remarkably spongy and an easy prey to the enemies ever lying in wait to attack it, and the surest remedies for disease are preventive ones, and by the maintenance of the bark of the tree at all times in the sound condition, we are a.s.sured that it is best qualified to resist invasion. Of the great number of worm-riddled trees to be seen in the Archipelago, it is easy in every case to trace the cause to the neglect and brutal treatment which left them in a condition to invite the attacks of disease of every kind.

HARVEST.

The ripening period of cacao generally occurs at two seasons of the year, but in these islands the most abundant crop is obtained at about the commencement of the dry season, and the fruits continue to ripen for two months or longer. The time of its approaching maturity is easily recognized by the tyro by the unmistakable aroma of chocolate that pervades the orchard at that period, and by some of the pods turning reddish or yellow according to the variety.

The pods are attached by a very short stalk to the trunk of the tree, and those within reach of the hand are carefully cut with shears. Those higher up are most safely removed with an extension American tree pruner. A West Indian hook knife with a cutting edge above and below and mounted on a bamboo pole, if kept with the edges very sharp, does excellently well, but should only be intrusted to the most careful workmen. There is hardly a conceivable contingency to warrant the climbing of a cacao tree. If it should occur, the person climbing should go barefooted. As soon as the fruit, or so much of it as is well ripened, has been gathered, it is thrown into heaps and should be opened within twenty-four hours.

The opening is done in a variety of ways, but the practice followed in Surinam would be an excellent one here if experienced labor was not at command. There, with a heavy knife or cutla.s.s (bolo), they cut off the base or stem end of the fruit and thereby expose the column to which the seeds are attached, and then women and children, who free most of the seeds, are able to draw out the entire seed ma.s.s intact. It is exceedingly important that the seeds are not wounded, and for that reason it is inexpedient to intrust the more expeditious method of halving the fruit with a sharp knife to any but experienced workmen.

The process of curing that I have seen followed in these Islands is simplicity itself. Two jars half filled with water are provided for the cleaners, and as the seeds are detached from the pulp they are sorted and graded on the spot. Only those of large, uniform size, well formed and thoroughly ripe, being thrown into one; deformed, small, and imperfectly matured seeds going to the other. In these jars the seeds are allowed to stand in their own juice for a day, then they are taken out, washed in fresh water, dried in the sun from two to four days, according to the weather, and the process from the Filipino standpoint is complete.

Much of the product thus obtained is singularly free from bitterness and of such excellent quality; as to be saleable at unusually high prices, and at the same time in such good demand that it is with some hesitancy that the process of fermentation is recommended for general use.

But it is also equally certain that localities in these Islands will be planted to cacao where all the conditions that help to turn out an unrivaled natural product are by no means a.s.sured. For such places, where the rank-growing, more coa.r.s.e-flavored, and bitter-fruited Forastero may produce exceptionally good crops, it will become inc.u.mbent on the planter to adopt some of the many methods of fermentation, whereby he can correct the crudeness of the untreated bean and receive a remunerative price for the "processed"

or ameliorated product.

Undoubtedly the Strickland method, or some modification of it, is the best, and is now in general use on all considerable estates where the harvest is 200 piculs or upward per annum, and its use probably a.s.sures a more uniform product than any of the ruder processes in common use by small proprietors.

But it must not be forgotten that the present planters in the Philippines are all small proprietors, and that until such time as the maturing of large plantations calls for the more elaborate apparatus of the Strickland pattern, some practice whereby the inferior crude bean may be economically and quickly converted into a marketable product can not be avoided. As simple and efficacious as any is that largely pursued in some parts of Venezuela, where is produced the famous Caracas cacao.

The beans and pulp are thrown into wooden vats that are pierced with holes sufficient to permit of the escape of the juice, for which twenty-four hours suffices. The vat is then exposed to the sun for five or six hours, and the beans, while still hot, are taken out, thrown into large heaps, and covered with blankets.

The next day they are returned to the box, subjected to a strong sun heat and again returned to the heap. This operation is repeated for several days, until the beans, by their bright chocolate color and suppleness, indicate that they are cured. If, during the period of fermentation, rain is threatened or occurs, the beans are shoveled, still hot, into bags and retained there until they can once more be exposed to the sun. Before the final bagging they are carefully hand rubbed in order to remove the adherent gums and fibrous matters that did not pa.s.s off in the primary fermentation.

In Ceylon, immediately after the beans have been fermented they are washed, and the universally high prices obtained by the Ceylon planters make it desirable to reproduce here a brief resume of their method. The fermentation is carried on under sheds, and the beans are heaped up in beds of 60 cm. to 1 meter in thickness upon a platform of parallel joists arranged to permit of the escape of the juices. This platform is elevated from the ground and the whole heap is covered with sacks or matting. The fermentation takes from five to seven days, according to the heat of the atmosphere and the size of the heap, and whenever the temperature rises above 40 the ma.s.s is carefully turned over with wooden shovels.

Immediately after the fermentation is completed the Ceylon planter pa.s.ses the ma.s.s through repeated was.h.i.+ngs, and nothing remains but to dry the seed. This in Ceylon is very extensively done, in dryers of different kinds, some patterned after the American fruit dryer, some in slowly rotating cylinders through the axis of which a powerful blast of hot air is driven.

The process of was.h.i.+ng unquestionably diminishes somewhat the weight of the cured bean; for that reason the practice is not generally followed in other countries, but in the case of the Ceylon product it is one of the contributing factors to the high prices obtained.

ENEMIES AND DISEASES.

Monkeys, rats, and parrots are here and in all tropical countries the subject of much complaint, and if the plantation is remote from towns or in the forest, their depredations can only be held in check by the constant presence of well-armed hunter or watchman. Of the more serious enemies with which we have to deal, pernicious insects and in particular those that attack the wood of the tree, everything has yet to be learned.

Mr. Charles N. Banks, an accomplished entomologist, now stationed at Maao, Occidental Negros, is making a close study of the life history of the insect enemies of cacao, and through his researches it is hoped that much light will be thrown upon the whole subject and that ways will be devised to overcome and prevent the depredations of these insect pests. The most formidable insect that has so far been encountered is a beetle, which pierces and deposits its eggs within the bark. When the worm hatches, it enters the wood and traverses it longitudinally until it is ready to a.s.sume the mature or beetle state, when it comes to the surface and makes its escape. These worms will frequently riddle an entire branch and even enter the trunk. The apertures that the beetle makes for the laying of its eggs are so small--more minute than the head of a pin--that discovery and probing for the worm with a fine wire is not as fruitful of results as has been claimed.

Of one thing, however, we are positively a.s.sured, i. e., that the epoch of ripening of the cacao fruit is the time when its powerful fragrance serves to attract the greatest number of these beetles and many other noxious insects to the grove. This, too, is the time when the most constant and abundant supply of labor is on the plantation and when vast numbers of these insects can be caught and destroyed. The building of small fires at night in the groves, as commonly practiced here and in many tropical countries, is attended with some benefits. Lately, in India, this remedy has been subject to an improvement that gives promise of results which will in time minimize the ravages of insect pests. It is in placing powerful acetylene lights over broad, shallow vats of water overlaid with mineral oil or petroleum. Some of these lamps now made under recent patents yield a light of dazzling brilliancy, and if well distributed would doubtless lure millions of insects to their death. The cheap cost of the fuel also makes the remedy available for trial by every planter.

There is a small hemipterous insect which stings the fruit when about two-thirds grown, and deposits its eggs within. For this cla.s.s of insects M. A. Tonduz, who has issued publications on the diseases of cacao in Venezuela, recommends was.h.i.+ng the fruit with salt water, and against the attacks of beetles in general by painting the tree stem and branches with Bordeaux mixture, or with the va.s.siliere insecticide, of which the basis is a combination of whale-oil soap and petroleum suspended in lime wash. There can be no possible virtue in the former, except as a preventive against possible fungous diseases; of the sanitive value of the latter we can also afford to be skeptical, as the mechanical sealing of the borer's holes, and thereby cutting off the air supply, would only result in driving the worm sooner to the surface. The odor of petroleum and particularly of whale-oil soap is so repellent, however, to most insects that its prophylactic virtues would undoubtedly be great.

The Philippine Islands appear to be so far singularly exempt from the very many cryptogamic or fungous diseases, blights, mildews, rusts, and cankers that have played havoc with cacao-growing in many countries. That we should enjoy continued immunity will depend greatly upon securing seeds or young plants only from noninfested districts or from reputable dealers, who will carefully disinfect any s.h.i.+pments, and to supplement this by a close microscopical examination upon arrival and the immediate burning of any suspected s.h.i.+pments.

Another general precaution that will be taken by every planter who aims to maintain the best condition in his orchard is the gathering and burning of all prunings or tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs from the orchard, whether they are diseased or not. Decaying wood of any kind is a field for special activity for insect life and fungous growth, and the sooner it is destroyed the better.

On this account it is customary in some countries to remove the fruit pods from the field. But unless diseased, or unless they are to be returned after the harvest, they should be buried upon the land for their manurial value.

MANURING.

There are few cultivated crops that make less drain upon soil fertility than cacao, and few drafts upon the land are so easily and inexpensively returned. From an examination made of detailed a.n.a.lyses by many authors and covering many regions, it may be broadly stated that an average crop of cacao in the most-favored districts is about 9 piculs per hectare, and that of the three all-important elements of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, a total of slightly more than 4.2 kilograms is removed in each picul of cured seeds harvested. These 37 kilos of plant food that are annually taken from each hectare may be roughly subdivided as follows:

18 kilos of nitrogen, 10 kilos of potash, 9 kilos of phosphoric acid.

On this basis, after the plantation is in full bearing, we would have to make good with standard fertilizers each year for each hectare about 220 kilos of nitrate of soda, or, if the plantation was shaded with leguminous trees, only one-half that amount, or 110 kilos. Of potash salts, say the sulphate, only one-half that amount, or 55 kilos, if the plantation was unshaded. If, however, it was shaded, as the leguminous trees are all heavy feeders of potash, we would have to double the amount and use 110 kilos.

In any case, as fixed nitrogen always represents a cost quite double that of potash, from an economical standpoint the planter is still the gainer who supplies potash to the shade trees. There still remains phosphoric acid, which, in the form of the best superphosphate of lime, would require 55 kilos for unshaded orchards, and about 70 if dap-dap, Pionciana, or any leguminous tree was grown in the orchard. These three ingredients may be thoroughly incorporated and used as a top dressing and lightly harrowed in about each tree.

If the commercial nitrates can not be readily obtained, then recourse must be had to the sparing use of farm manures. Until the bearing age these may be used freely, but after that with caution and discrimination. Although I have seen trees here that have been bearing continuously for twenty-two years, I have been unable to find so much as one that to the knowledge of the oldest resident has ever been fertilized in any way, yet, notwithstanding our lack of knowledge of local conditions, it seems perfectly safe to predicate that liberal manuring with stable manure or highly ammoniated fertilizers would insure a rank, succulent growth that is always prejudicial to the best and heaviest fruit production. In this I am opposed to Professor Hart, [6] who seems to think that stable manures are those only that may be used with a free hand.

We have many safe ways of applying nitrogen through the medium of various catch crops of pulse or beans, with the certainty that we can never overload the soil with more than the adjacent tree roots can take up and thoroughly a.s.similate. When the time comes that the orchard so shades the ground that crops can no longer be grown between the rows, then, in preference to stable manures I would recommend cotton-seed cake or "poonac," the latter being always obtainable in this Archipelago.

While the most desirable form in which potash can be applied is in the form of the sulphate, excellent results have been had with the use of Kainit or Sta.s.sfurth salts, and as a still more available subst.i.tute, wood ashes is suggested. When forest lands are near, the underbrush may be cut and burned in a clearing or wherever it may be done without detriment to the standing timber, and the ashes scattered in the orchard before they have been leached by rains. The remaining essential of phosphoric acid in the form of superphosphates will for some years to come necessarily be the subject of direct importation. In the cheap form of phosphate slag it is reported to have been used with great success in both Grenada and British Guiana, and would be well worthy of trial here.

Lands very rich in humus, as some of our forest valleys are, undoubtedly carry ample nitrogenous elements of fertility to maintain the trees at a high standard of growth for many years, but provision is indispensable for a regular supply of potash and phosphoric acid as soon as the trees come into heavy bearing. It is to them and not to the nitrogen that we look for the formation of strong, stocky, well-ripened wood capable of fruit bearing and for fruit that shall be sound, highly flavored, and well matured.

The bearing life of such a tree will surely be healthfully prolonged for many years beyond one constantly driven with highly stimulating foods, and in the end amply repay the grower for the vigilance, toil, and original expenditure of money necessary to maintaining a well-grown and well-appointed cacao plantation.