The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1903-11-06
CACAO FOR HAWAII.

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on Nuuanu avenue. A business inter
est might be proftably taken, how
ever. in the cacao tree because OF th'
rapid increase of cacao or cocoa con
sumption in the United States, wher'
the imports have grown from tota
of 1900, 900 pounds in 1888 to 24,0OO,OO'
pounds in 1893 and 6s,0O0,0O0 pounds il
1903 Inasmuch as the tree does vel
/ in the West Indian tropics and II
certain parts of Asia and Africa its
commercial possibilities here-where
single specimens are so luxuriant-
would seem not to admit of doubt The
| fruit of the cacao tree a pear-shaped
pod from five to ten inches in length,
contains numerous large seeds from
which the chocolate of commerce is
produced, while the shells are also
utilized for the decoction known as
cacao, or cocoa, used as substitute
! for tea or coffee. It is the crude
cacao and leaves and shells which form
the large and rapidly growing importa-
ton above referred to. The value of
importations in this crude form has
grown from s1,O0o,0Oo in 1883 to $4,000
F, 600 in 1893 and nearly $S,000,00O in
1903 Meantime the importation of
manufactured cacao and chocolate has
fallen from 1,467,977 pounds in 1897,
valued at $2Ss,S1s, to 690.s24 pounds in
1908, valued at s144,S23.
Figures compiled by the Department
of Commerce and Labor show that
both cacao and coffee have grown rap
idly in favor in the United States in
recent years, as against tea, which
showed no material increase. The
coffee importations grew from 515,000,-
600 pounds in 1883 to 1901, ,OoO,O 900 pounds
in 1902 and 915,O66,3S0 pounds in 1908;
those of tea amounted to $4,000, 900
pounds in 1888 and only 100000 in
1902, but in 1903 were los, ZOO, 900. Thus,
the growth in the Importation of ca
Gao has been more rapid proportion
ately than that of coffee, and much
more rapid than that Of tea.
The report of the Bureau of Statis-
tics says of cacao:
'The growing popularity of this ar
ticle in the United States is matter
of especial interest because of the fact
that cacao is produced in the West
India Islands, and while Porto Rico
has not up to this time been a large
producer of cacao, the fact that the
United States imported about 10000, 900
pounds from thes West India Islands
in 1892 and about 10000, 900 in 1902, sug-
gests that there may be possibilities
in this line under the American flag.
Of the 51,000,000 pounds of cacao i'm
ported in 1902, 100000 pounds were
from the British West Indies, 5000. 900
from Brazil, 100000 from Dutch Gui-
ana, 6,500,OO0 from Ecuador, $500, 900
from Cuba, and 1.2ov,0O0 from Santo
Domingo. In 1900, 392 pounds were i'm
ported from Porto Rico, but there is
no record of cacao from that island
since tnat date.
"Cacao planting, according to the
report from Consul Donaldson, of
Managua, Nicaragua, recently receiv-
ed by the Bureau of Statistics. is one
of the most attractive and lucrative
industries in the tropics. Nearly all
the cacao plantations in Nicaragua
he says, are owned by foreigners, and
although the tree grows very luxuri-
ously along the Atlantic coast and
along the river valleys, it also grows
in all attitudes from the sea level to
1000 feet. The trees are planted four
yards apart, in rows three yards apart.
or about 400 trees to the acre CaIcu-
lated at an output of four pounds each.
at twenty-five cents (gold) per pound,
they would give an annual return of
$4o0 per acre, which nets the planter
at least $3.50. The picking and prep
aration for market is much more cas-
lily performed than coffee, as cacao
grows in large pods containing from
fifteen to twenty-five beans each, on
trees from ten to twelve feet high"