There are small insects, called by the Spaniards accerredores, of the same figure with those which eat the bark of the cacao, but larger and of a blackish colour.  They feed on the branches of the tree; are always found upon those branches which they have cut; and the evil can only be obviated by killing them.

The worms called vachacos occasion also much damage.  They eat the leaf and the flower.  To destroy them it is necessary to seek them in their nests in the earth.  Water is thrown on the spot, and stirred, as in making mortar.  By this means their young are crushed, and the evil is diminished, if it be not entirely removed.

A parasitical plant often attaches itself to a branch of the cacao tree which it covers over and causes to wither, by nourishing itself with the substance of the plant.  The only remedy is to remove it.

When the cacao trees are in a bearing state, they are subject to a disease called tache.  This is a black taint, or stain, which attacks the trees, encircling them below, and kills them.  The mode of preservation is to make, in the beginning, a slight notch that shall pierce the bark.  But if the taint is extensive, it is necessary to cut all the affected part.  It then exudes a liquid and is healed.  The bark remains of a violet color in the part that has been tainted.

The other enemies of the cacao are the agouti, stag, squirrel, monkey, &c.  The agouti produces most havoc.  It often destroys in one night all the hopes of the proprietor.

Birds are not less injurious to the cacao.  The whole class of parrots, in particular the great Ara, which destroys for the pleasure of destroying, and, the parroquets, which come in numerous flocks, conspire also to ruin the plantations of cacao.

Means of preserving a plantation.—­It is necessary that a cacao plantation should have always shade and irrigation; the branches of the plant should be cleared of the lichens that form on them; the worms destroyed; and no large herbs or shrubs and mosses permitted to grow near, since the least disadvantage resulting therefrom would be the loss of all the fruit that should fall into these thickets.  But it is most essential to deepen the trenches which carry off the water, in proportion as the plant increases in size, and as the roots of course pierce deeper; for if the trenches are left at a depth of three feet, while the roots are six feet in the earth, it follows that the lower part of the cacao plant is in a situation of too great humidity, and rots at the level of the water.  This precaution contributes not only to make the plantation more durable, but also to render the crop more productive.  It is necessary, also, to abstain from cutting any branch from cacao plants that are already bearing.  Such an operation might occasion the subsequent crop to be stronger; but the plants become enervated, and often perish, according to the quality of the soil and the number of branches cut off.