o, there was formed a Cacao Planters' Association, 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 Association handled the cacao from over 100 estates.
We may expect to see more of these cacao planters' associations 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.

[Illustration: MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES.
Only cacao-producing areas are marked.]

[Illustration: 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 principal 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