Cacao
or COCOA, the chocolate tree (Theobroma cacao), natural order Byttneriaceæ, and also the powder and beverage everage made with it obtained from the fruit of this tree. The tree is 16 to 18 feet high, a native of tropical America, and much cultivated in the tropics of both hemispheres, especially in the West India Islands, Central and South America. Its fruit is contained in pointed, oval, ribbed pods 6 to 10 inches long, each inclosing 50 to 100 seeds in a white, sweetish pulp. These are very nutritive, containing 50 per cent. of fat, are of an agreeable flavor, and used, both in their fresh state and when dried, as an article of diet. Cocoa and choco- CACHAO different tree. In 1917 the world's cacao production was estimated at over 730,- 000,000 pounds. The chief cacao-producing countries, in their relative order, were: British colonies, Brazil, Ecuador, San Domingo, and Venezuela.