CACAO CULTURE IN THE PHILIPPINES. part 2

LOCATION.

It is always desirable to select a site that is approximately level or with

only enough fall to assure easy drainage. Such sites may be planted symmetrically and are susceptible to the easiest and most economical application of the many operations connected vvith a plantation.

Provided the region is well forested and therefore protected from sea

breezes, the plantation may be carried very near to the coast, provided the

elevation is sufficient- to assure the grove immunity from incursions of

tide water, which, however much diluted, will speedily cause the death of

the plants.

Excavations should be made during the dry season to determine that

water does not stand within IJ meters of the surface, a more essential

condition, however, when planting is made "at stake^' than when nursery

reared trees are planted.

Hillsides, when "not too precipitous, frequently offer admirable shelter

and desirable soils, but their use entails n rather more complicated system

of drainage, to carry away storm water without land washing, and for the

ready conversion of the same into irrigating ditches during the dry season.

Further, every operation involved must be performed by hand labor, and

in the selection of such a site the planter must be largely influenced by the quantity and cost of available labor.

The unexceptionable shelter, the humidity that prevails, and the inexhaustible supply of humus that is generally found in deep forest ravines frequently lead to their planting to cacao where the slope is even as great as 45°. Such plantations, if done upoji a considerable commercial scale, involve engineering problems and the careful terracing of each tree, and, except for a dearth of more suitable locations, is a practice that has little to commend it to the practical grower.

THE SOIL.

Other things being equal, preference should be given to a not too tenacious, clayey loam. Selection, in fact, may be quite successfully made

through the process of exclusion, and by eliminating all soils of a very

light and sandy nature, or clays so tenacious that the surface bakes and

cracks while still too wet within 3 or 4 inches of the surface to operate

with farm tools. These excluded, still leave a very wide range of silt,

clay, and loam soils, most of which are suitable to cacao culture.

Where properly protected from the wind a rocky soil, otherwise good,

is not objectionable; in fact, such lands have the advantage of promoting

good drainage.

Picture: Adi Chocolate Fiji



PREPARATION OP THE SOIL.

When the plantation is made upon forest lands, it is necessary to cut

and burn all underbrush, together with all timber trees other than those

designed for shade. If such shade trees are left (and the advisability of

leaving them will be discussed in the proper place), only those of the

pulse or bean family are to be recommended. It should also be remembered

that, owing in part to the close planting of cacao and in part to

the fragility of its wood and its great susceptibility to damage resulting

from wounds, subsequent removal of large shade trees from the plantation

is attended with difficulty and expense, and the planter should leave

few shade trees to the hectare. Clearing the land should be done during

the dry season, and refuse burned in situ, thereby conserving to the soil

the potash salts so essential to the continued well-being of cacao.

The land should be deeply plowed, and, if possible, subsoiled as well,

and then, pending the time of planting the orchard, it may be laid down

to corn, cotton, beans, or some forage plant. Preference should be given

to ^Tioed crops," as it is essential to keep the surface in open tilth, as well as to destroy all weeds.

The common practice in most cacao-growing countries is to simply dig

deep holes where the trees are to stand, and to give a light working to the

rest of the surface just sufficient to produce the intermediate crops. This

custom is permissible only on slopes too steep for the successful operation

of a side hill plow, or where from lack of draft animals all cultivation

has to be done by hand.

Cacao roots deeply, and with relatively few superficial feeders, and the

deeper the soil is worked the better.

DRAINAGE.

The number and size of the drains will depend upon the amount of

rainfall, the contour of the land, and the natural absorbent character of

the soil. In no case should the ditches be less than 1 meter wide and 60

cm. deep, and if loose stones are at hand the sloping sides may be laid

with them, which will materially protect them from washing by torrential

rains.

These main drains should all be completed prior to planting. Connecting

laterals may be opened subsequently, as the necessities of further

drainage or future irrigation may demand ; shallow furrows will generally

answer for these laterals, and as their obliteration will practically follow

every time cultivation is given, their construction may be of the cheapest

and most temporary nature. Owing to the necessity of main drainage

canals and the needful interplanting of shade plants between the rows of

cacao, nothing is gained by laying oif the land for planting in what is

called "two ways," and all subsequent working of the orchard will consequently

be in one direction.

Source: S.LYON,IN CHARGE OF SEED AND PLANT INTRODUCTION. OF PUBLIC PRINTING1902.WILLIAM

MANILA:

BUREAU