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.

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.