Vol. I. No. 2. 



THE AGRICULTUJIAL NEWS. 



13 



DOMINICA. 



Cacao Drier at the Botanic Station. 



A good deal of con.sideration has lately bcLii given 

 b}- the Imperial Department of Agriculture to the 

 que.stion of drpng cacao by mean.s of artificial heat. 

 At Trinidad and Grenada cacao driers of various kinds 

 are in use to a limited extent : but, so far, a really 

 efficient cacao drier, at a moderate cost, is still a 

 desideratum in these Colonies. At Dominica no attempt 

 ajjpjars to have been made to experiment on a large 

 scale with cacai> driers, and during the wet seasons 

 that sometimes prevail in that island considerable 

 difficulty had been experienced in curing the ]jroduce 

 by the ordinary method of sun-drying. With the object 

 of assisting planters in obtaining an inexpensive and 

 reliable machine, a cacao drier somewhat on the prmci- 

 jile of those tried in Ceylon was erected by the 

 Department at the Botanic Station in 1901. (West 

 Indian Build: n. Vol. II. pp. 171-174 with figure). Mr. 

 George Whitfield Smith, the Travelling Superintendent 

 of the Imperial De- 

 partment of Agricul- Fan." 

 turc, ^\ho experiment- ^ 

 cfl with cacao driers in Q 

 Grenada many years 

 ago, visited Dominica < ^ 



for the purjjosc of 

 advising in the erec- ^S"^ 



tion of this drier. By 

 the aid of the accom- 

 panying diagram (Fig. 

 4) the Dominica drier 

 may be briefly explain- 

 ed. In the first place, 

 it shijuld be mentioned 

 that the drying box 

 tis shown in the dia- 

 gram, for protection YU'. i. 

 against the weather, 

 is placed under a shed 32 

 by 10 ft. high, to the 

 Portions of tliis shed are 

 side but 

 sists of 





eacao 



B. 



Gaeao 



,-^^-^ 



Y 



A. 



eaeao 



ft. long, by IS 

 eaves of the 



closed on the 

 open on the others. The box itself 

 a frame of pitch-pine scantling (2 



It. wide, 

 building, 

 weather 

 con- 

 in. by 



that the hot air is compelled to p.iss, on the flue .system, 

 successively through the compartments in the direction 

 indicated by the arrows. On rising from the stove the 

 hot air first enters compartment ' A' where it passes 

 over and under the Ciicao beans which are sjjread on 

 trays made of stout gahanized wire with a quarter-inch 

 me.sh, indicated by dotted lines : thence the hot air 

 passes in turn through compartments ' B' and ' C,' 

 through the openings ' E' and ' F' and, finally, is drawn 

 out at ' G' by the exhau.st action of the fan. The wire 

 trays are fixed on wheels running on rails, which permit 

 them to be drawn out from time to time for the purpose 

 of stiiring or removing the cacao. 



The essential feature of this drier, suggested by 

 Dr. Monis, is the arrangement by which the hot air, on 

 entering the dr}ing box, is conducted along an air-tight 

 flue or channel, and is- compelled to ^j«.s« over and 

 around the trays in succession, beginning with the 



lowest. In this re- 

 spect it is a great 

 ^ improvement on 



driers of a similar 

 pattern used in 

 Grenada and else- 

 where, which have 

 no interior divisions. 

 In such di'iers it is 

 found that the hot 

 au- on entering the 

 single dr\-ing cham- 

 ber naturally rises 

 at once to the top, 

 with the result that 

 the beans on the 

 up])ertray were too 

 quickly dried, while 

 those on the lower 

 or, in some cases, 



■<r~^. 



]gf--j^ ^^'i 





Cacao Drikr in Section 



St 



ove- 



dried, 



several trials have 



3 in.) covered with grooved and tongued white-pine 

 board.s, the whole resting on mason-work pillars 3 feet 

 G inches in height. The measurements of the drying 

 box as shown in the wood-cut are — length 20 feet, width 

 8 feet, height 4 feet 8 inches. The heating app;u-atus 

 is placed outside at one end of the box, and consists of 

 u large ordinary stove fitted with a cowl, or hood, 

 which discharges the hot air into the drying chamber 

 througli an opening at its lower end. At the further 

 «*nd, near the top, is a circular opening in whicli is 

 fitted an exhaust fan. This fan is worked Ijy hand and 

 draws th<i hot air through the drying chamber. The 

 interior of the drying box is divided into three 

 compartments, 6ne above the other, viz : ' A,' ' B' and 

 " C,' as shown in the wood-cut. The divisions betwcei 

 these (indicated by contir.uous lines) are so arranged 



tiers were only paitially 

 remained moist. 



During the last six months 

 been made with the drier at Dominica, and, according 

 to the Curator (Mr. Joseph Jones), in each case with 

 satisfactory results. The Administrator of Dominica 

 (his Honour- H. Hesketh Bell) confimis this and states 

 that the cacao-drying house will prove a very valuable 

 object lesson. Cacao beans fresh from the sweating box, 

 after being nibbed or washefl, were thoroughly dried in 

 thirty-two hours. It was also found that, provided a 

 constant current of air was maintained in the diying 

 chambei-s by means of the fan, a better sample of cacao 

 was turned out with a comparatively low temjierature 

 (140' F.) than when a very high temperature was used. 



The drier above described is capable of dealing 

 with five bags of cacao at a time, and its original cost, 

 including shed, stove and fan, was £127. Where, 

 however, the planter is able to utilize a spare building 

 in which to place the drying box and stove, the cost 

 migiit be reduced by about one half. 



