here bears fruit in four years after it has been planted,
the following year still more, and increases in fecundity until the
ninth or tenth year, when it is in full bearing.

The banks of the Magdalena, in the vicinity of Santa Martha and
Carthagena, are famed for the excellent cacao they produce. "This
tree," says Bonnycastle (Spanish America, vol. 1, p. 257), "is
indigenous, seldom exceeds the diameter of seven inches, and is
extremely beautiful when laden with its fruit, which are disposed on
short stalks over the stem and round the great branches, resembling
citrons, from their yellow color, and warty appearance. The leaves are
attenuate, stalked, drooping, about a foot long and three inches
broad, elliptic, oblong, pointed, slightly wavy, entire, and very
smooth on both sides; with one mid-rib and many transverse ones,
connected by innumerable veins. The petals of the flower are yellow,
the calyx of a light rose-color, and the flowers themselves are small
and placed on tufts on the sides of the branches, with single
foot-stalks, about an inch long. Its fruit is red, or a mixture of red
and yellow, and about three inches in diameter, with a fleshy rind
half-an-inch thick; the pulp is whitish and of the consistence of
butter, containing the seed; these seeds are generally twenty-five in
number in each fruit, and when first gathered are of a flesh color,
and form a nice preserve if taken just before they are ripe. Each tree
yields about two or three pounds of fruit annually, and comes to
maturity the third year after planting from the seed; it also bears
leaves, flowers, or fruit all the year round, the usual seasons for
gathering being June and December. The excellence of the Magdalena
chocolate may be attributed to the moist nature of the soil, as the
plant never thrives where the ground is hard and dry, or cannot be
irrigated."

_Mode of cultivation in the Colombian Republics_--Plantations of cacao
were speedily multiplied in Colombia, and the soil so admirably
seconded the labors of the planter, that in the produce abundance was
united to excellence. The cacao of this quarter ranks next to that of
Soconusco. It is well known that the best commercial recommendation of
cacao is that of coming from Caracas. But even in these provinces the
quality varies. The cacao of Orituco is superior to that of other
places, and a quantity of equal bulk weighs twenty per cent. more. The
cacao of the coast comes next, and obtain