Natural History.
Reading edition
Theobroma cacao, so classed by Linnæus, the celebrated Swedish naturalist, is a beautiful tree found only in the tropical countries.
The Mexican name of the tree is Cocoquahuilt, and the name Theobroma, is derived from two Greek words meaning “food of the gods.”
In the beautiful valleys of Mexico and Venezuela the cacao tree is found in its most perfect beauty and in the highest cultivation. Under that genial climate, vegetation is perennial, and leaves, buds, flowers and fruits are seen together at all seasons, presenting a charming and harmonious array of most picturesque and varied colors—the graceful ornament of the forest of the New World.
The tree is exceedingly delicate; it must have warmth, shade and moisture; the heat should never be less than 70° F.; it must not be transplanted out of its native soil, and, to produce good fruit, it wants a particular quality of land, temperature and atmospheric conditions, which are found united only in the intertropical regions of the American Continent.
The longest period of production of the theobroma cacao tree is from eight to thirty years; it bears usually about a hundred pods (cabosses or mazorcas) of a form and color resembling cucumbers, containing a number of beans enclosed in a rose-colored spongy pulp, which is of itself an article of food.
There are two crops of the pods gathered during the year, in June and December, although the fruit may be collected throughout the whole year, as the pods are continually opening.
The composition of the seed in which amylaceous matter is combined with oil, contains also a principle similar in nature to theïn and caffeïn. As soon as the fruit is collected, the beans are separated from the pulp and dried in the sun. In some countries they are placed in large tubs and covered for several days for the purpose of undergoing a slight fermentation.
The most esteemed of the known kinds of cacao beans are the following: The Soconuzco and Tabasco Cacaos of Mexico; the Caracas Cacaos from Venezuela, among which are the celebrated plantations of Chuao, Maracaibo, Tuy, Porto-Cabello, San-Felipe, and many others.
The second class embraces: Para or Maragnon, and Bahia from Brazil, some from Trinidad, Martinique, Cuba, and other West India Islands, some from Ceylon, Bourbon and Philippine Islands, and some from Florida and Louisiana in the United States.