£17 10s. per annum for each laborer. The expenses of the plantation,
including those of utensils, machines, and buildings, are also less
considerable for cacao than for any other produce. The delay of the
first crop, and the accidents peculiar to cacao, can alone diminish
the number of planters attached to its culture, and induce a
preference to other commodities.

The cacao plant is not in a state of prolific produce till the eighth
year in the interior, and the ninth in plantations on the coast. Yet,
by a singularity which situation alone can explain, the crops of cacao
commence in the ninth year in the valley of Goapa, and at the east of
the mouth of the Tuy. In the vicinity of the line, and on the banks of
Rio-Negro, the plantations are in full produce on the fourth, or at
most the fifth year.

The cacao tree continues productive to the age of fifty years on the
coast, and thirty years in the interior of the country.

In general the culture and preparation of cacao receives more
attention in the eastern parts of Venezuela than in other places, and
even than in the French colonies. It is true that the suitability of
the soil contributes much to the quality of the article; but without
the assistance derived from art, it would be far from possessing that
superiority awarded to it by commerce over the cacao of every other
country.

Stevenson ("Travels in South America") speaks of another kind of cacao
tree, called moracumba, which is larger than the ordinary species, and
grows wild in the woods. The beans under the brown husk are composed
of a white, solid matter, almost like a lump of hard tallow. The