84S 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[April 2, 1883. 



lands, which a taxation might throw into the market on 

 reasonable terms. Holders of unoccupied lands are reaping 

 annually the benefit of the industry and experience of 

 occupiers without contributing their fail' share to the cost of 

 the government of the country. Their selfish policy is 

 preventing the settlement of some of the most suitable 

 land in the colony. The commercial depression has not 

 materially affected the agriculturist. The financial cor- 

 porations of Natal do not afford to agricultural enterprise 

 those fostering facilities which do so much for the ad- 

 vancement of other countries. — Natal Mei'cv.rij. 



EXPERIMENTS IN OOCOA CURING. 



[The following letter, addressed to a cocoa planter, has 

 been placed at our service for publication. — Ed. T. J,] 

 Colombo, April 2, 1883. 



Dear Sir, — I have to apologize for having delayed so long 

 my promised report on the experiments I made with cocoa 

 pods you were so kind as to place at my disposed ; one thingor 

 another came in the way of my putting the results on 

 paper. Your letter of the 31st ultimo hastens by a 

 few days the letter I intended to write to you. One 

 of the chief objects I had in view, in asking you to 

 lend me some cocoa pods, was to ascertain whether I 

 could hasten the process of fermentation, by the ap- 

 plication of a regular and constant higher warmth than 

 that of the atmosphere. I am sorry to say that all my 

 e.tperiments in this direction were complete failures; the 

 result therefore is that instead of preserving the pink 

 color of properly fermented beans, aU I experimented 

 with are very dark and coated, so far as the out- 

 ward appearance is concerned. I attribute this complete 

 failure, in a great measure, to my previous unacquaint- 

 ance with the ordinary process, and also with the 

 nature of the mucilage to be dealt with. 



I found that if the whole of the mucilage was not 

 got rid of, what was left, immediately tmmed black 

 by exposure to the atmosphere, and very quickly got 

 mouldy — all this of course you Imow, and I only 

 mention it as an explanation of my failure in the ob- 

 ject I had in view. But if the result of my experiments 

 was unsatisfactory in one respect, it was .satisfactory in 

 another; it proved to me what you no doubt know but 

 which I did not, that fermentation of the beans is 

 only practised for the purpose of removing the 

 mucilage; that process l>eing perfectly unnecessary for 

 imparting the true chocolate color to the cocoa kernels; 

 this being developed in course of drying the beans by the 

 conversion of the watery juices of the kernel into the 

 coloring oil which, forms so large a portion of the cocoa 

 bean. The satisfactory point ascertaiueil by the experi- 

 ments is, that not only may the whole of tlie muciUige 

 Ije god rid of without any fermentation whatever, by a 

 very simple and easy process; but the mucilage itself 

 can easily be converted into a valuable product 

 instead of being wasted as by the present method. 



I found by experiments that considerably more than 

 half of the mucilage may be separated from the beans, 

 by washing them or rather mixing them with a little 

 water, and by agitating them in a revolving cylimler with 

 perforated boles for the fre.sh sacharine liquor to run 

 into a trough, which would convey it to a clarifyer 

 which is the first process towards its manufacture into sugar. 



That portion of the mucilage next to the beans, especially 

 that adliering to them, is more refractory and difficult to 

 separate, but I fouml that even this could be easily 

 rul)bed off instead of got rid of by friction. I should think a 

 machine — similar to a washing machine, would answer the 

 purpose on a large scale. I may mention that in my 

 small experiments a quantity of small stones was mixed with 

 the beans to chafe them when revolving, sufficiently to 

 remove the whole of the mucilage, and preserve it before 

 fermentation set in. 



If cocoa planters are indifferent to the utilisation of the 

 enormous quantity of saccharine, contained in the mucilage; 

 or think the result will not compensate for the trouble. 

 I still think a much better and speedier way of getting 

 rid of the nmcilage may be hit upon, than by the slow 

 and wasteful process of fermentation. As a half or throe- 

 fourths of the mucilage can be removed at once by simple 

 agitation, there is only the last coating to be dealt with — 



this could be rubbed off by some process or other. I obtained 

 a beautiful sample of cocoa by rubbing the mucilage off 

 with a rough towel. However, I have no intention of sug- 

 gesting any particular way of removing it. I only 

 %vish to say that I think for the reasons given above, 

 that fermentation is a wasteful and an unnecessarily slow 

 process. At present my interest in this portion of the 

 question is very insignificant. 



I will now advert to the point in the curing of cocoa 

 in which I am particularly interested, and that is whether 

 the principle of my tea-dryer cannot be apphed to the 

 drying of large quantities of cocoa (which, hke the pro- 

 duce of its palm namesake, contains so large a quantity 

 of oil as to render it very susceptible of mildew, in a 

 damp atmosphere) until the whole of the moisture is eva- 

 porated or dried out. I believe that ray tea-dryer can be 

 advantageously used for the purpose of drying cocoa 

 in a manner which woidd not injure or remove the outer 

 skin or parchment. The result of my experiments is to 

 satisfy me, that in the first instance, the drying should be 

 very gradual though continuous, to allow of the watery 

 juice to evaporate gradually, and for the coloring oil to take 

 its place. If rh-ied too quickly, the parchment wiU split 

 on the germinating side; the watery juice will evaporate, 

 and the kernel become dry before the oil has permeated 

 the whole of the kernel; the result will be, that some of 

 them will dry white or mottled, and the parchment will 

 crack in a way that will render it liable to become de- 

 tached from the nibs in transport, or manipulation. 



My advice then is, if ray dryer is used, to spread the 

 cocoa fresh frora the process of removing the mucilage on 

 the hot surface rather thickly, say foiu- or five inches thick, 

 and keep it there until the whole becomes warm through- 

 out. I would then remove it into bags, and let it stand 

 for a few hom-s until a fresh charge is ready to be put 

 into bags, I would then replace the first charge until it 

 again became warm throughout ; by thus alternating the 

 charges, a large quantity of cocoa could be dried gradu- 

 ally, which I beUeve to be a necessity in cocoa cming. I 

 assume that drying cocoa by artificial means would only 

 be resorted to when it is impossible to dry it in the ord- 

 inary way, viz., by the heat of the sun, this method being 

 obviou.sly the cheapest one, though by no means the speed- 

 iest, and during the greater part of the year the climate 

 of the mountain zone of Ceylon renders it almost impossible 

 to sun-dry cocoa satisfactorily on the estates. For the 

 purpose of drying large quantities, a considerable area 

 would be required. You can ascertain the cost by taking 

 two-and-a-quarter rupees per superficial toot as the basis 

 of calculation. The heat generated by the drying machines 

 would, in a closed store, with ventilators, hasten the drying 

 of half dried cocoa and prevent mildew and discoloration. 

 In communicating the results of my crude experiments, 

 I desire ^ only to turn your thoughts into the channels 

 I have indicated. I have not the materials for continuing 

 the experiments, nor can I afford either to buy them or 

 the appliances for doing so. You will however be able 

 to continue them on the hints I have ventured to offer. — 

 Yours truly, 0. SHAND. 



P- ^- — As the oil in cocoa beans liquifies at 120 degrees, the 

 process coloration is hastened by drying gradually on a 

 surface heated to 170 degrees. 



Imposts of CAouTcnonc in 1882. — From Messrs. Hecht, 

 Levis and Kahn's Caoutchouc Report for 1882 we learn that 

 "in spite of the high prices ruliug throughout the year, the 

 consumption of all kinds of indiarubber has steadily increased 

 and the stocks remaining at the expu-ation of a year of large 

 imports are very moderate." Fine Para rubber, it seems, 

 gradually declined in price from 3s. 9d. to 3.s. SJfA in February; 

 then, owing to an enormous American demand, rapidly rose 

 to 4,s'. 10(7. in May. falling again in August to \s. ly/. It 

 subsequently advanced to 4s. lid. in October, and in Decem- 

 ber last it stood at 4s. 7d. The production of Para rubber is 

 stated to be steadily on the increa.se. The imports into 

 London and Liverpool amounted to 3,948 tons, against 3.8a.5 

 tons in 1881, .showing an increa.se of P3 tons. Of the total 

 exports from Para the I 'nited States have taken about 6,000 

 tons direct from Para, being again an increase of 800 tons as 

 compared with 1881. The total exports from Para tu all ports 

 are estimated at 10,200 tons against 8850 tons in 1881, being 

 an increase of 1,350 tons against 1881, — Gardeners'' Chronicle, 



