O tree, upraised in far-off Mexico!

    "_Ode to the Chocolate Tree_," 1664.


How seldom do we think, when we drink a cup of cocoa or eat some morsels
of chocolate, that our liking for these delicacies has set minds and
bodies at work all the world over! Many types of humanity have
contributed to their production. Picture in the mind's eye the graceful
coolie in the sun-saturated tropics, moving in the shade, cutting the
pods from the cacao tree; the deep-chested sailor helping to load from
lighters or surf-boats the precious bags of cacao into the hold of the
ocean liner; the skilful workman roasting the beans until they fill the
room with a fine aroma; and the girl with dexterous fingers packing the
cocoa or fashioning the chocolate in curious, and delicate forms. To the
black and brown races, the negroes and the East Indians, we owe a debt
for their work on tropical plantations, for the harder manual work would
be too arduous for Europeans unused to the heat of those regions.



_Climate Necessary._

Cacao can only grow at tropical temperatures, and when shielded from the
wind and unimpaired by drought. Enthusiasts, as a hobby, have grown the
tree under glass in England; it requires a warmer temperature than
either tea or coffee, and only after infinite care can one succeed in
getting the tree to flower and bear fruit. The mean temperature in the
countries in which it thrives is about 80 degrees F. in the shade, and
the average of the maximum temperatures is seldom more than 90 degrees
F., or the average of the minimum temperatures less than 70 degrees F.
The rainfall can be as low as 45 inches per annum, as in the Gold Coast,
or as high as 150 inches, as in Java, provided the fall is uniformly
distributed. The ideal spot is the secluded vale, and whilst in
Venezuela there are plantations up to 2000 feet above sea level, cacao
cannot generally be profitably cultivated above 1000 feet.



_Factors of Geographical Distribution._

Climate, soil, and manures determine the possible region of
cultivation--the extent to which the area is utilised depends on the
enterprise of man. The original home of cacao was the rich tropical
region, far-famed in Elizabethan days, that lies between the Amazon and
the Orinoco, and but for the enterprise of man it is doubtful if it
would have ever spread from this region. Monkeys often carry the beans
many miles--man, the master-monkey, has carried them round the world.
First the Indians spread cacao over the tropical belt of the American
continent and cultivated it as far North as Mexico. Then came the
Spanish explorers of the New World, who carried it from the mainland to
the adjacent West Indian islands. Cacao was planted by them in Trinidad
as early as 1525. Since that date it has been successfully introduced
into many a tropical island. It was an important day in the history of
Ceylon when Sir R. Horton, in 1834, had cacao plants brought to that
island from Trinidad. The carefully packed plants survived the ordeal of
a voyage of ten thousand miles. The most recent introduction is,
however, the most striking. About 1880 a native of the Gold Coast
obtained some beans, probably from Fernando Po. In 1891, the first bag
of cacao was exported; it weighed 80 pounds. In 1915, 24 years later,
the export from the Gold Coast was 120 million pounds.

[Illustration: CACAO TREE, WITH PODS AND LEAVES]



_The Cacao Tree._

Tropical vegetation appears so bizarre to the visitor from temperate
climes that in such surroundings the cacao tree seems almost
commonplace. It is in appearance as moderate and unpretentious as an
apple tree, though somewhat taller, being, when full grown, about
twenty feet high. It begins to bear in its fourth or fifth year. Smooth
in its early youth, as it gets older it becomes covered with little
bosses (cushions) from which many flowers spring. I saw one fellow, very
tall and gnarled, and with many pods on it; turning to the planter I
enquired "How old is that tree?" He replied, almost reverentially: "It's
a good deal older than I am; must be at least fifty years old." "It's
one of the tallest cacao trees I've seen. I wonder--." The planter
perceived my thought, and said: "I'll have it measured for you." It was
forty feet high. That was a tall one; usually they are not more than
half that height. The bark is reddish-grey, and may be partly hidden by
brown, grey and green patches of lichen. The bark is both beautiful and
quaint, but in the main the tree owes its beauty to its luxuriance of
prosperous leaves, and its quaintness to its pods.

[Illustration: CACAO TREE, SHOWING PODS GROWING FROM TRUNK.]

[Illustration: FLOWERS AND FRUITS ON MAIN BRANCHES OF A CACAO TREE.
(Reproduced from van Hall's _Cocoa_, by permission of Messrs. Macmillan
& Co.).]



_The Flowers, Leaves and Fruit._

Although cacao trees are not unlike the fruit trees of England, there
are differences which, when first one sees them, cause expressions of
surprise and pleasure to leap to the lips. One sees what one never saw