f2ij 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[March i, 1883, 



take off any quantity of fine cocoa tor the Swiss manu- 

 factuiere of chocolate. The French and Swiss makers are 

 a Ion"- w;iy ahead of the London firms in the quality of 

 their ?oods, which are consumed to an enormous extent in 

 Fiance, Spain, Russia and other continental countries, nud 

 where the selling price, leaving good profits, the manu- 

 facturers can afford to gi>'e a high price for a really first- 

 rate article. Like coffee, this product is to be found of 

 re lly the finest quality in limited quantities, and there- 

 torn is the more sought for. This, accordme: to the report 

 from a leading- Swiss manufacturer of Neufchatel, is caused 

 to a good extent by want of care in the preparation. They 

 lay special stress on the undesirabUity of using any such 

 ingredient as red earth whilst preparing the beans for ship- 

 ment. Some West India growers recommend the beans 

 to be well rubbed with red earth, similar to our 

 Oeylon cabook soil, in order, as it is alleged, to 

 remove from them any remaining moisture and to 

 prespive thorn on the voyage home as well as to impart a 

 fine blooming color to the skin. This practice is oondenmcd 

 in (0(0 by the Neufchatel manufacturer. He declares that 

 in removing the thin skin Irom the seeds preparatory to 

 grinding them to a fine pulp, it is impossible to prevent 

 B meof tlie re J earth becoming blend d with the broken 

 seeds as they pass into the mill, and the presence of the 

 smallest portion of this foreign substance is detrimental lo 

 the complete puiity 0' the manufactured article and there- 

 fore, any cocoa prepared without such application of red 

 (arth will be preferred by the best manufaeurers who in- 

 variably give the highest p ice for a really fine article. 

 The cocoa beans purchased by Messrs, Tolkart Brothers 

 and grown on Gangaruwa estate by Mr. Jeffreys, are as 

 near perfection in shape, ctlor and inti rual texture, asooul 1 

 well be imagined. They bear a resemblance to a good, 

 plump filbert, covered by a fine thin veined skin of light 

 brown which has evidently been fermented and dried with 

 the utmost cire : they break with a rich glossy fracture and 

 are altogether models of cocoa beans. They are valued at 145s 

 in the European market. The small parcel to which we have 

 called attention was taken l.iy the purchasers at the rate of 

 R56per cnl., the highest price yet obtained on the spot. 



Now in all the Cocoa Handbooks we have be- 

 fore U8 — Fraser's, Morris's, Holms's, Henson's (t"r 

 British Guiana) and Palgrave's notes on Suriuain— 

 the use of red earth is invariably prescribed in the 

 preparation, whereas the practice in Dumbara and, vve 

 suppose, gfnerally in Ceylon would seem to be fairly 

 well described as follows:— 



" The seeds, after being removed from the pods, are 

 heaped in a pile on the floor, each day's picking by 

 itself, and left to ferment. This process takes from six 

 to nine days, accvrdiug to circumstances. The fermented 

 seeds are then slightly washed, and if dried in the sun 

 within twelve hours after, they gain tliat rich brown 

 c lour so much prized. But should the weather be cUiudy 

 or wet, the cocoa becomes black ands mewhat mildewed 

 within twenty-four hours, and all chance of fine color is 

 gone. The Clerihew apparatus dries th" seeds after a 

 fashion, but the result is tar from siti- factory at the 

 best. Glass roofs have been proposed, but their eSect 

 would be dubious." 



Undoubtedly great improvements are likely to be 

 effected by Ceylon planters in the mode of prepara- 

 tion before they have many more years' experience of 

 this product. Mr. C. Shand is already sanguine that 

 his tea-dryer can be so utilized as to save a great 

 deal of trouble to the cocoa planter and en:»ble iiim 

 to turn out a perfect sample. Experiments to this 

 end with cocoa seeds are now being made and we 

 sl.all publish the result. Fraser in his "Cocoa as 

 grown in Trinidad " thus described the best quality :— 



" The best quality is of a full-sized reddish-brown on the 

 outer shell, but upon being broken sharply in Jwo it will 

 show a rich, dark, brown-coloured nut or nib underneath 

 this outer skin. It must break in a brittle manner leaving 

 a lagged surface. The interior when eaten must have a 

 sligh'tly bitter and astringent taste, and should it become 

 sour in being cured, all the value of it as an article of 

 consumption is gone. Great care must be used m not 

 allowing this result to arise. I was told when out in the 



"West Indies that horses and cattle have been fed upon the 

 husk of the cocoa-beau, and should this really be the case, 

 the value of the product is much increased." 



Mr. Shand is also engaged in experiments for the 

 local preparation of chocolate and homeopathic cocoa 

 by the extraction of the cocoa butter, valuable in itself, 

 but inimical to digestion esjiecially in a hot climate. 

 He aims at preparing a powder of which a simple 

 decoction will give a beverage as light as tea, while 

 more substantial and refreshing ; but it may not be 

 known by our cocoa planters that sucli a drink is 

 already within their reach if they only follow the recipe 

 appended, using the nibs as they come from the 

 shell of the cocoa seed: — 



" OocoA-NiBs : How TO USE THEM. — The drink most re- 

 commended by the faculty at home to people of weak 

 digestions is cocoa-mb tea. Those to whom a cup of tea or 

 of coffee will cause severe heart-burn can take a preparation 

 of cocoa-nibs with their morning and afternoon meal 

 with comfort. It is not generally known how simple the 

 preparation is. Yon take the bean, well dried, and skin it 

 when it tumbles into scrips known as cocoa-nibs. These 

 have to be boiled fast in a lightly-closed saucepan for 

 two to three hours, and the result is a most refreshing 

 beverage but of no more consistency than tea. If you 

 prefer a cup of tliick chocolate, boil for five hours. Two 

 tahlespiionfuls of nibs will suffice for three breakfastcuptuls 

 of the drink." 



It may be supposed from all that is said of the risk 

 attending cocoa-seed preparation for market, that 

 like tea it is scarcely an industry likely to be fol- 

 lowed by natives unless central factories are estab- 

 lished. Perhaps nowhere could such factories be 

 more conveniently placed than in the Matale 

 district with the main road running through 

 the centre and numerous branches. Both in the 

 tuw-n of Matale and at Kowdapolella, we yet hope 

 to see such Central Stores or Factories in full ojjera- 

 tiou for the receipt of cocoa pods or seeds fresh 

 from plantations, of tea leaf, rubber balls, of cinchona 

 and even of ci ffee (Arabian and Liberian) with a view 

 to full, careful and final preparation, packing and 

 despatch for shipment. [With a few remarks on the 

 yield of cocoa, our notes for the present will close.] 



TROPICAL PLANTING ON THE HILLS 

 OF CEYLON. 



CINCHONA FIBRES. 



A visit to the lower portion of this estate last after- 

 noon and evening, and a walk through Clarendon, 

 Dessford [and Lome this morning, leave impressions 

 cheering in many respects and strengthen the con- 

 viction that the new leaf-disease and clianker are due 

 to wind, wet and cold, the effects of which are ag- 

 gravated at all altitudes above 5,000, or 5,300 feet, 

 and there is a gummy matter which exudes and causes 

 poitions of the grass to adhere to the comparatively 

 smooth surface of the bark. And, while almost in 

 every case the bark renews over every portion of the 

 stem of C. officinalis, gaps of bare stem are apt to 

 shew themselves iu the case of C. succirubra. But it 

 was in passing down the path which runs through 

 Clarendon, that we were most deeply impressed with 

 the falling-ofl in C. officinalis in later years as compared 

 with the experience of those who planted in IS74-75. 

 yiie officinalis plants which line the path through 

 Clarendon were, I believe, planted in 1874, and they 

 were coppiced about three years ago, after yielding 

 seed the plants resulting from which have germinated, 

 flourished, and gone out, in most cases. The parent 

 plante, on the contrary, look now more healthy and 



