Part 8 (1/2)

The _Gordian_ estimates that Venezuela sent out from her three princ.i.p.al ports in 1919 some 16,226 tons of cacao.

_THE WEST INDIES._

In the map of South America the princ.i.p.al West Indian islands producing cacao are marked. Their production in 1918 was as follows:

CACAO BEANS EXPORTED. Percentage of Metric Tons. World's production.

Trinidad (British) 26,177 9.7 San Domingo 18,839 7.0 Grenada (British) 6,704 2.5 Jamaica (British) 3,000 1.1 Haiti 2,272 0.8 St. Lucia (British) 500 0.2 Dominica (British) 300 0.1 St. Vincent (British) 70 0.02 ----------- --------------- West Indies Total 57,862 tons 21.42 per cent.

----------- --------------- Br. West Indies 36,751 tons 13.6 per cent.

TRINIDAD AND GRENADA.[3]

[3] Cacao production in 1919: Trinidad 27,185 tons; Grenada 4,020 tons.

Cacao was grown in the West Indies in the seventeenth century, and the inhabitants, after the destructive ”blast,” which utterly destroyed the plantations in 1727, bravely replanted cacao, which has flourished there ever since. The cacaos of Trinidad and Grenada have long been known for their excellence, and it is mainly from Trinidad that the knowledge of methods of scientific cultivation and preparation has been spread to planters all round the equator. The cacao from Trinidad (famous alike for its cacao and its pitch lake) has always held a high place in the markets of the world, although a year or two ago the inclusion of inferior cacao and the practice of claying was abused by a few growers and merchants. With the object of stopping these abuses and of producing a uniform cacao, there was formed a Cacao Planters' a.s.sociation, whose business it is to grade and bulk, and sell on a co-operative basis, the cacao produced by its members. This experiment has proved successful, and in 1918 the a.s.sociation handled the cacao from over 100 estates.

We may expect to see more of these cacao planters' a.s.sociations formed in various parts of the world, for they are in line with the trend of the times towards large, and ever larger, unions and combinations.

Trinidad is also progressive in its system of agricultural education and in its formation of agricultural credit societies. The neighbouring island of Grenada is mountainous, smaller than the Isle of Wight and (if the Irish will forgive me) greener than Erin's Isle. The methods of cacao cultivation in vogue there might seem natural to the British farmer, but they are considered remarkable by cacao planters, for in Grenada the soil on which the trees grow is forked or tilled. Possibly from this follows the equally remarkable corollary that the cacao trees flourish without a single shade tree. The preparation of the bean receives as much care as the cultivation of the tree, and the cacao which comes from the estates has an unvaried constancy of quality, not infrequently giving 100 per cent. of perfectly prepared beans. It is largely due to this that the cacao from this small island occupies such an important position on the London market.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES.

Only cacao-producing areas are marked.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: WORKERS ON A CACAO PLANTATION.

(Messrs. Cadbury's estate in Trinidad.)]

The cacao from San Domingo is known commercially as _Samana_ or _Sanchez_. A fair proportion is of inferior quality, and is little appreciated on the European markets. The bulk of it goes to America. The production in 1919 was about 23,000 tons.

_AFRICAN CACAO._

In the map of Africa the princ.i.p.al producing areas are marked. Their production in 1918 was as follows:

CACAO BEANS EXPORTED.

Metric Tons. Percentage of World's production.

Gold Coast (British) 66,343 24.5 San Thome 19,185 7.1 Lagos (British) 10,223 3.8 Fernando Po 4,220 1.6 Cameroons 1,250 0.4 Togo 1,000 0.4 Belgian Congo 875 0.3 ------------ -------------- African Total 103,096 tons 38.1 per cent.

------------ -------------- British Africa 76,566 tons 28.3 per cent.

THE GOLD COAST (_Industria floremus_).

_Accra Cacao._

The name recalls stories of a romantic and awful past, in which gold and the slave trade played their terrible part. Happily these are things of the past; so is the ”deadly climate.” We are told that it is now no worse than that of other tropical countries. According to Sir Hugh Clifford, until recently Governor of the Gold Coast, the ”West African Climatic Bogie” is a myth, and the ”monumental reputation for unhealthiness” undeserved. When De Candolle wrote concerning cacao, ”I imagine it would succeed on the Guinea Coast,”[4] as the West African coast is sometimes called, he achieved prophecy, but he little dreamed how wonderful this success would be. The rise and growth of the cacao-growing industry in the Gold Coast is one of the most extraordinary developments of the last few decades. In thirty years it has increased its export of cacao from nothing to 40 per cent. of the total of the world's production.

[4] De Candolle, _Origin of Cultivated Plants_, quoted by R.

Whymper.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF AFRICA--WITH ONLY CACAO-PRODUCING AREAS MARKED.]