MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES.
Only cacao-producing areas are marked.
In the map of South America the principal West Indian islands producing cacao are marked. Their production in 1918 was as follows:
CACAO BEANS EXPORTED.
| Metric Tons. | Percentage of World's production. | |
| Trinidad (British) | 26,177 | 9.7 |
| San Domingo | 18,839 | 7.0 |
| Grenada (British) | 6,704 | 2.5 |
| Jamaica (British) | 3,000 | 1.1 |
| Haiti | 2,272 | 0.8 |
| St. Lucia (British) | 500 | 0.2 |
| Dominica (British) | 300 | 0.1 |
| St. Vincent (British) | 70 | 0.02 |
| West Indies Total | 57,862 tons | 21.42 per cent. |
| Br. West Indies | 36,751 tons | 13.6 per cent. |
TRINIDAD AND GRENADA.[3]
Cacao was grown in the West Indies in the seventeenth century, and the inhabitants, after the destructive "blast," which utterly destroyed the plantations in 1727, bravely replanted cacao, which has flourished there ever since. The cacaos of Trinidad and Grenada have long been known for their excellence, and it is mainly from Trinidad that the knowledge of methods of scientific cultivation and preparation has been spread to planters all round the equator. The cacao from Trinidad (famous alike for its cacao and its pitch lake) has always held a high place in the markets of the world, although a year or two ago the inclusion of inferior cacao and the practice of claying was abused by a few growers and merchants. With the object of stopping these abuses and of producing a uniform cacao, 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.
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.
WORKERS ON A CACAO PLANTATION.
(Messrs. Cadbury's estate in Trinidad.)