_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. If the earth of the plantations be pressed and trampled down by animals, the duration of the plant is diminished. Irrigation, made with judgment, maintains them long in a state of produce. _Withering of the fruit._--The fruit of the cacao withers on the tree from three causes:-- First.--When the plantation is, during a long time, inundated with water. I have seen plantations of cacao, which had only been covered with water thirty hours, and of which the fruit was totally withered. Second.--From abundant rains, particularly in very damp valleys. This is only to be remedied by keeping the plantation well drained, that the water may not remain on it. Third.--A want of necessary irrigation, and the watering of the plantation under an ardent sun. The vapor from the earth kills the fruit. If the rains are deficient for a time, and an excessive rain succeeds, the fruit of the cacao also withers. This dessication or withering takes place everywhere; but in some places the surplus of fruit, which the tree is unable to nourish, is alone subject to it. In others, as Araquita and Caucagua, it withers in proportion to the northerly rains. An unsuitable soil occasions another kind of decay. The pods become stinted, containing some good and some bad seeds. The Spaniards call this _cocosearse_, which means defective.