Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-03-27

I
the United States alone has more than
doubled in the last ten years. and that
there would not be sufficient in the crop of
the world to supply the demand unless
foreign substances were used for adulter-
alton. The manufacturers of 'pateut
coffee. then ought to be looked upon as
public benefactors, because there woudn I
be enough to 90 around If they didn {
bring Ii their beans, peas, and chicory.
GREAT VALUE or THE COCOA CLoP.
Cocoa, the chocolate bean, is an even
more profitable crop than coffee, and Its
price Is fixed almost as fixed as that of
gold. In some portions of the country
cocoa beans are still used as a legal tender,
and in many of the smaller towns GUS
toners at market have to take them IN
lieu of small change, as they use rolls of
bread in Ecuador. Coffee was introduced
into the country from Arabia by the Fran
ciScan monks, but cocoa was indigenous
to the soil and was used in large quanti-
ties by the Indians for food at the time of
the discovery. 1t was not liked 10y the
Spaniards at first, but was introduced In
France 10y the Francisoans, who were al
ways very enterprising fellows, and the
French cooks at once adopted 1t into great
favor. Cardinal Richelieu is said to have
been the FIRST chocolate drinker Of any
fame and to have set the fashion of us
ing it.
There are two kinds, the native cocoa,
called FL Criollo, and an imported plant,
called FL Trinitario. that was brought to
the country from Trinidad and others of
the West India islands The former is of
greatly superior quality and is scarce, Not
more than five or six thousand bags are
raised annually and it is worth from S32
to S35 gold a bag of 100 pounds. OF the
Trinidad variety about a hundred thous-
and bags are raised, and it sells for SIS to
$40 a bag The native plant requires
peculiar soil aud care and grows best in
the hottest and most unhealthfu regions
so that there is not much comfort in ITS
cultivation The cocoa plantations are
found all along the coast of Venezuela and
are more profitable than coffee on account
of their requiring less attention, as well
as because of the greater value of the
crop.
IN THE COCOA BELT.
While cocoa can be successfully cultivat-
ed under minimum temperature of 10 de-
gree Fahrenheit, the cocoa tree, for proper
development and remmerative crops, re-
Quires q temperture of at least 50 degrees
Fahrenheit: hence the area of cocoa belt is
comparatively restricted, Besides the con-
ditions of temperature this crop needs
moist soil and humid atmosphere, and so
the land along the coast of the Caribbean
sea, sloping from the mountain tops to the
shore, believed by the numerous riyulets
| that course down the valleys, are found to
] 10, Ill Il tG,t na
/ liable cultivation of cocoa. And while
the lands in the interior possessing faclll-
! ties for irrigation may be said to be equal
| y as good for the purpose, yet the absence
of roads and the consequently difficult
transportation Of production on the backs
of donkeys over rugged mountain paths
materially reduces the profits on the crop
! before it reaches the market.
A cocoa plantation is set in quite the
same manner as a coffee orchard, except
! that the young stocks may be transplanted
from the nursery after two months growth.
| No preparation of the soil is deemed neces-
sary nd no manures are applied, The
young trees are planted about fifteen feet
equidlstant. which will accommodate 200
trees to the acre Between the rows and
at like spaces are planted rows of the
| bacuara tree that serves TO shade the soil
as well as TO shield the young trees from
the torrid sun Small permanent trenches
must be maintained from tree to tree
| throughout the entire length of the rows,
so that, at least one in each week, the
stream. descending from the mountains,
may be turned into these little channels,
and bear needfuI moisture to trees and soil.
! At the age of five years the plantation be-
/ gins to bear fruit and annually yield two
crops. that ripening in June being termed
/ the corn of San Juan, and that maturing
al Christmas being known as the crop OF
! La Nayidad The average age to which
| the tree attains, under proper care, may be
estimated at forty years, during which
period it will give fair 10 full crops OF
! fruit; but, Of course, it must be understood
! that. as in our fruit orchards, a new tree
must be set from time TO time TO replace
one that may be decaying or bhghted.
/ After careful inquiry it may be safely stat
ed that the average crop OF the cocoa PLAN
tation at ten year, Of age and under pro-
| per state of cultivation, will amount to
! five or six hundred pounds an acre.
THE FRUIT OF THE cocoa.
The fruit or seed of the cocoa in form,
! Size, ana toloI is 4utlt Hlullid 10 lAc an"
mOnd These seeds 30 the number Of sixty
or eighty. are incased in pod that. except
! in color. is the counterpart Of a young
mushmeon, being elongated and ribbed in
| the same manner Its color, when green,
is like that Of the eggplant, but on ripen-
| ing it assumes a reddish hue. A peculi-
arity of the cocoa is that bears fruit from
the ground up the trunk of the tree yield
ing fruit as well as the branches Upon
upening the pods are gathered from the
| trees and heaped in piles on the ground,
where they are left for some days 10 fer
ment after which they burst open, when
| the seed must he shelled out. After light
! exposure to the sun, during which time
great care must be taken TO protect them
/ from the rain. they are sacked and ready
/ for the market.
RUBBISH EATEN by AMERICANS.
The good people down there say that all
the best cocoa gees 10 Europe and not a
pound of the f. CriollO the United States.
| They say. too, that we eat the miserable
product of Mexico Brazil, and the Central
/ American states which does not approach
in quality the Venezuelan fruit, and even