Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 November 1893 — The Chocolate Tree in Trinidad. [ARTICLE]

The Chocolate Tree in Trinidad.

We learn that J. H. flart, Curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, has recently returned from a visit to Central America, after having successfully transported thither -no less than twenty-five thousand plants of Trinidad cocoa. In return he has conveyed to Trinidad two highly desirable varieties of the Theobroma cacao, and two species new,to that colony, and already numerous plants of each are thriving well. One of the varieties is a purely whiteseeded one, producing white pods and splendid beans, which require only fortyeight hours’ fermentation instead of the ten days usual in Trinidad. The second variety, known in Nicaragua as “alligator cacao,” is peculiar from the soft covering of its pod and. the raised instead of indented seotional ribs. The. new species are Theobroma bicolor and Theobroma sp.* the latter known as “cacao meco, ” “caoao mono” or “monkey cocoa.”—[Scientific American.