tree and lessen the crop is very great.

[Illustration--Black and White Plate: Young Cultivation, with catch
Crop of Bananas, Cassava, and Tania: Trinidad.]

The cacao will bloom in its third year, but does not bear fruit till
its fourth or fifth. The flower is small, out of all proportion to the
size of the mature fruit. Little clusters of these tiny pink and
yellow blossoms show in many places along the old wood of the tree,
often from the upright trunk itself, and within a few inches of the
ground; they are extremely delicate, and a planter will be satisfied
if every third or fourth produces fruit. In dry weather or cold, or
wind, the little pods only too quickly shrivel into black shells; but
if the season be good they as quickly swell, till, in the course of
three or four months, they develop into full grown pods from seven to
twelve inches long. During the last month of ripening they are subject
to the attack of a fresh group of enemies--squirrels, monkeys, rats,
birds, deer, and others, some of them particularly annoying, as it is
often found that when but a small hole has been made, and a bean or
so extracted, the animal passes on to similarly attack another pod;
such pods rot at once. Snakes generally abound in the cacao regions,
and are never killed, being regarded as the planter's best friends,
from their hostility to his animal foes. A boa will probably destroy
more than the most zealous hunter's gun.

[Illustration--Drawing: PODS OF CACAO THEOBROMA.]

From its twelfth to its sixtieth year, or later, each tree will bear
from fifty to a hundred and fifty pods, according to the season, each
pod containing from thirty-six to forty-two beans. Eleven pods will
produce about a pound of cured beans, and the average yield of a large
estate will be, in some cases, four hundredweight per acre, in
others, twice as much. The trees bear nearly all the year round, but
only two harvests are gathered, the most abundant from November to
January, known as the "Christmas crop," and a smaller picking about
June, known as the "St. John's crop." The trees throw off their old
leaves about the time of picking, or soon after; should the leaves
change at any other time, the young flower and fruit will also
probably wither.

Of the many varieties of the cacao, the best known are the _criollo_,
_forastero_, and _calabacilla_. The _criollo_ ("native") fruit is of
average size, characterized by a "pinched" neck and a curving point.