The cacao has two major crops each year. The pods when ripe are removed from the trees with a hooked pruning knife attached to a bamboo pole, and collected into piles, sometimes covered with earth, where they undergo a period of fermentation lasting five or six days. After this the seeds are removed from the pods and carefully dried for the market. In the days of Montezuma such was the value of the cacao seeds or beans that they took the place of money or small change in adjusting purchases, and they are recognized even today among the Indians in representation of values. In the cacao factories, the oil of the bean, which represents 50% of its weight, is extracted and known to the trade as cocoa butter. The residue, known as the cacao nib, is ground and forms the chocolate and cocoa of commerce. Even the hulls are used to make a low grade of cocoa known as “La Miserable.” The tree comes into bearing the fourth year after planting and attains its maturity in about twelve years, with a life extending over a half a century or more. The yield per tree varies greatly, or from four to twelve pounds annually, with an average, under favorable conditions, or five or six pounds. This extreme range in the productivity of cacao is dependent almost entirely on the fertility of the soil, since the plant is greedy in its demand for nourishment, and it quickly responds to the generous use of fertilizer. In the ordinary sense of the term no cultivation whatever is given to the cacao tree, since it is truly speaking a denizen of the forest, doing better when the soil above its roots is never disturbed, although a mulch of leaves to maintain the moisture is very beneficial. Weeds and brush that may appear are removed with a machete. The successful culture of cacao requires experience and care, especially during the period of fermentation through which the pods must pass before the removal of the seeds. This latter work is done usually by women and children, hence, as in the case of coffee, cacao in many senses of the word is well adapted to colonies and settlements composed of families who have grouped together and made permanent homes in the mountains and valleys that border on the Caribbean and the Gulf. Cuba is exporting at the present time, mostly from the province of Oriente, approximately two and a half million pounds of cacao, valued at $15.20 per hundred pounds, or $380,000. The commodity is staple and the demand at good prices constant, while the cacao once prepared for market does not deteriorate or suffer loss if sale is delayed, all of which is to the advantage of the grower.