Lunan, in his ‘Hortus Jamaicensis,’ published in 1814, gives a very elaborate article on the cacao, although its cultivation was almost extinct in his day in that island.  He, however, appears to have derived his information chiefly from Blume, who wrote a short account of Jamaica, in 1672, at which time cacao was the chief export of the island.  Lunan attributes its downfall to heavy ministerial exaction, which was then, he says, upwards of 480 per cent. on its marketable value.  Speaking of the average weight of cacao per tree, he has the following:—­’The produce of one tree is generally estimated at about 20 lbs. of nuts.  The produce per acre in Jamaica has been rated at 1,000 lbs. weight per annum, allowing for bad years.  In poor soils, and under bad management, the produce of the tree rarely exceeds 8 lbs. weight.’  He also says—­’When the cacao plants are six months old, the planter from this period must not be too fond of cleaning the plantation from grass and herbage, because they keep the ground cool; but all creeping, climbing plants, and such weeds as grow high enough to overtop the cacao, should be destroyed.’  He gives the distance from tree to tree at 18 feet.  I have long since been of opinion that it is of less consequence to clean the ground beneath the trees than to attend to the top-pruning of the shade trees, as well as to the cacao (although the former is very desirable, it is nevertheless a subordinate consideration).  Under the present mode of cultivation the ground-cleaning is the only one at all attended to, and that badly.

A very important economy might also be made in the curing of the cacao, by which much time would be saved, and consequently expense, by adopting the same method as is used in Jamaica for drying coffee, namely, floorings of cement, or, as they are called, barbecues.  At convenient distances in the centre of these floorings (which are inclined planes) a slightly-raised circular ridge is formed with cement, leaving an aperture at the lower side to allow the escape of any water that may have lodged in them.  The cacao is easily brought together in these places in the event of rain, and at night covered with portable wooden frames, which are readily removed by two men.  In this way the cacao would be dried in a fifth of the time much more effectually, and of a brighter colour.

Any experiments tending to bring about a proper system of cultivation and manufacture of cacao, must be beneficial to the island, as well as to individuals; for it cannot be denied that the cultivation of cacoa will still prove advantageous in proportion to the care bestowed on it.  Indeed its cultivation is at present languishing, not so much from inadequate prices, as from a want of proper attention to its cultivation.”

In 1796, there were sixty plantations in Trinidad, which produced 96,000 lbs.  In 1802 the plantations were reduced to fifty-seven, the yield being about the same.  In 1807, 355,000 lbs. of cacao were grown.  In 1831, there were 2,972 quarrees (each three acres and one-fifth English) under cultivation in Trinidad with cacao, on which were 2,464,426 trees, which produced a crop of 1,479,568 lbs.  In 1841 there were 6,910 acres planted with cacao.