"at stake,"--when three beans are put in
round each stake, the one thriving best after the first year being
left to mature,--or "from nursery," whence, after a few months' growth
in bamboo or palm-leaf baskets, they are transplanted into the
clearing.

The preparation of the land is the first and greatest expense; trees
have to be felled, and bush cut down and spread over the land, so that
the sun can quickly render it combustible. When all is clear, the
cacao is put in among a "catch crop" of vegetables (the cassava,
tania, pigeon-pea, and others), and frequently bananas, though, as
taking more nutriment from the soil, they are sometimes objected to.
But the seedling cacao needs a shade, and as it is some years before
it comes into bearing, it is usual to plant the "catch crop" for the
sake of a small return on the land, as well as to meet this need.

In Trinidad, at the same time that the cacao[10] is planted at about
twelve feet centres, large forest trees are also planted at from fifty
to sixty feet centres, to provide permanent shade. The tree most used
for this purpose is the _Bois Immortelle_ (_Erythrina umbrosa_); but
others are also employed, and experiments are now being made on some
estates to grow rubber as a shade tree. In recent clearings in Samoa,
trees are left standing at intervals to serve this end.

[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Samoa: Cacao in its fourth Year.]

In Grenada, British West Indies, and some other districts, shade is
entirely dispensed with, and the trees are planted at about eight feet
centres, thus forming a denser foliage. By this means at least 500
trees will be raised on an acre, against less than 300 in Trinidad,
the result showing almost invariably a larger output from the Grenada
estates. This practice is better suited to steep hillside plantations
than to those in open valleys or on the plains.

The cacao leaves, at first a tender yellowish-brown, ultimately turn
to a bright green, and attain a considerable size, often fourteen to
eighteen inches in length, sometimes even larger. The tree is subject
to scale insects, which attack the leaf, also to grubs, which quickly
rot the limbs and trunks, this last being at one time a very serious
pest in Ceylon. If left to Nature the trees are quickly covered
lichen, moss, "vines," ferns, and innumerable parasitic growths, and
the cost of keeping an estate free from all the natural enemies which
would suck the strength of the