342 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i t 1884. 



fermeutation. With regard to the machine that be had 

 made, Mr. Lange was in error. The heat generated in 

 the furnace passed through a fan, and was there fanned 

 into a tube about from eight to ten inches in diameter 

 running through a wooden cylinder. This tube was inside 

 of the cylinder. This cylinder had pieces of tin put in it 

 to guide the cocoa, so as to form a kind of worm round 

 the tube, and the cocoa when put in wound round the 

 tube and fell out on the other side. That was the machine 

 that he got from Mr. Gibbs, but he found it was of no 

 use on account of the pulp that was on the cocoa. After 

 using it once or twice, as soon as the matter on the 

 surface of the cocoa became adhesive, it remained there 

 and adhered to the cylinder, it became hardened by the 

 heat, and concreted into a concrete mass which kept the 

 cocoa from passing. Large lumps of this concrete burnt 

 to cinder. The glutinous matter on the outside of the 

 nibs adhered to the side and would not allow the cocoa 

 to pass. That was the Gibbs machine. 



Mr. Lange : But you have altered it. 



Mr. Tucker said he had altered it (the Gibbs' machine) 

 by makiug a different machine altogether. There was not 

 only this that lie had overcome, but he also found that 

 the cocoa would not dry properly, so as to be a properly 

 inflated bean; it must not only pass through, but must be 

 kept continually in a hot place ; it must be retained ; 

 the moment you took it out and condensation took place, 

 as soon* as it cooled, the bean collapsed — it was impossible 

 to replace that fine round bean that you could make of 

 it. Consequently it required to remain in this hot air a 

 sufficient length of time, or else it became inflated like a 

 bladder and the outside would dry and break. Mr. Gibbs 

 in his recommendation sent along with the machine stated 

 that the cocoa should be taken out and cooled. It was not the 

 thing at all. It should be so regulated that the machine 

 could be constantly kept in motion at a certain temper- 

 ature, and there the cocoa should remain until desiccation 

 took place in the interior, or throughout the whole of the 

 beau, so that there was, if anything, less humidity in the 

 centre than externally. In his process he could not do 

 what he called the " first desiccation." The cocoa remained 

 there for two hours ; it was then taken out of that desic- 

 cator and placed in one of lower temperature to be totally 

 dried. There, so far as his experience went, it remained 

 for about three hours. After that time you took the 

 cocoa out and put it down on the floor and allowed it to 

 cool. That inflation was maintained because the inside of 

 the bean was already dried, or very nearly dried, and 

 there it remained fixed, and the cocoa then cooled mul 

 the moment it was cool you put it back in the cylinder. 



Mr. Lange: And what is the shape of the beans? 



Mr. Tucker: Somewhat like a pigeon's egg. more or less 

 inflated, and as I have said when gathered from mature, 

 large, and old trees on the estate, these beans have formed 

 magnificently. 



Mr. Lange: You have not told us about the first desiccator, 

 and the form of the cocoa. 



Mr. Tucker siid that cocoa required a particular form 

 to overcome many difficulties. Cocoa, in drying, appeared 

 to be like no other substance. The temperature in the 

 first desiccator would be from three to fourhuudred degrees. 

 Gibbs' machine was one hundred and sixty degrees — the 

 highest he could possibly get — the cocoa went through and 

 came out on the other side, just warm; it was brought 

 back, put through again, and came out on the other side 

 just as warm, and he (Mr. Tucker) found that every time 

 it passed through, the inflation caused by fermentation was 

 lost in the drying. 



Mr. Lange: But how do you get rid of the pulp? 



Mr. Tucker said the beans were thoroughly washed, but 

 for all that still a great deal remained. 



The President asked whether Mr. Tucker ever shipped 

 the cocoa, and what was the market price? 



Mr. Tucker said he shipped his cocoa, and with all his 

 experiments there had been a dfference of one shilling or 

 oue and six-pence; and when he had made excellent cocoa, 

 two shillings. "When he made very bad cocoa he generally 

 got two shillings less than the normal price. There was no 

 doubt that cocoa so prepared went into a channel, and it 

 showed that the buyers wanted us to send cocoa of that 

 value. He had never shipped cocoa perfectly dried; he 

 had only sent that which was dried by Gibbs' machine, but 



he had sent a very excellent sample done by Gibbs' machine' 

 He was now taking drawings of the models and he intended 

 to take them to Engiand by the mail steamer on the 7th of 

 August for the express purpose of carrying out his designs. 

 The only person in Trinidad who had seen his machine 

 was Mr. McCarthy, and it was of a peculiar formation to 

 overcome all difficulties; but it could be seen at anytime. 

 It could be made to dry within half a bag. 



Mr. Wilson asked whether the cocoa beans lost the form 

 (spoken of) after coming out of the first machine, and was 

 it only the skin of the cocoa or the germinating part 



Mr. Tucker: The whole of it. 



Mr. Wilson: It actually shrinks? 



Mr. Tucker: The collapse takes place from inside of the 

 bean. 



Mr. Wilson: There is a hollow? 



The Secretary said that the machine of Gibbs' never 

 dried coffee. It was devised on his suggestion. The Cocoa 

 Planters' Association advised him to write to Mr. Gibbs, 

 who was largely interested in the drying of hay, tea, etc. 

 The result was that this machine was brought out, and it 

 was pronounced a decided failure. But it was not a coffee- 

 drying machine. 



Mr. Wilson: Mr. Tucker says that beans are subjected 

 to three or four hundred degrees of heat. 



Mr. Tucker: It requires the bean, the moment it goes 

 into the desiccator, to be at once heated through. If you 

 just heat the outside of it, when it gets a horny skin it 

 is impossible to re-inflate it. 



Mr. Wilson: But would not three or four hundred 

 degrees of heat at once produce that effect? 



Mr. Tucker said it was impossible to imagine the degree 

 of heat that green cocoa would take. He took some of 

 the cocoa aud put it under five hundred degrees of heat 

 and kept it for half an hour, and when he got it out it 

 was still humid. 



Mr. Wilson: But there was no evaporation. 



Mr. Tucker : Oh, there was. 



Mr. Wilson ; There was no current of air through it. 



Mr. Tucker: No, except that there was evaporation. 

 It is impossible to parch green cocoa. 



Mr. Lange: You gave &M degrees of what? 



Mr. Tucker: Degrees Fahrenheit— three to four bund, cd. 



The President: And how did you get it? 



Mr. Tucker: By burning wood. 



After a general conversation around the table, 



Dr. de Verteuil said that what he had heard stated could 

 confirm what Mr. Tucker said as to the drying of the best 

 cocoa. On the Main, ou some estates, they had what they 

 called '■'creole" cocoa and " forastero " cocoa. They had 

 to be careful in picking them separately, because the beans 

 of the creole cocoa were not so thick as the other, so that 

 from three to four days' fermentation was quite sufficient, 

 because, while the other was thicker, it was also admitted 

 to be more juicy and required more time — from five to 

 eight days, according to the weather, and when the weather 

 was wet it would not ferment properly. This showed 

 really that the quantity of pulp which was round the 

 cocoa had to be takeu into consideration when you fer- 

 mented your cocoa or when you put it to dry. So far, if 

 it were possible to put separately the best sort of cocoa 

 from the other sort, it would be very much better, but 

 in this colony we could not do it. It was clear that the 

 process of fermentation with the best sort of cocoa would 

 take six days; then to dry it you required much less time. 

 Mr. Tucker deserved the thanks of the cocoa planters on 

 account of the strong interest he had taken not only in 

 making experiments but in observing closely how the fer- 

 mentation went on in the cocoa beans. If some other 

 cocoa planters could do the same thing he was satisfied 

 that before long the aggregate experiments of different 

 cocoa planters would lead them to prepare to a certainty 

 cocoa of the best quality. (Applause.) 



*Mr. Lange moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Tucker, and 

 expressed a hope that before long his experiments would 

 meet with full success. 



Mr. Fabien, in seconding the motion, said he hoped that 

 Mr. Tucker would go home as soon as possible and 

 bring out the machine without delay. 



The motion was unanimously carried. 



Mr. Tucker next spoke of mildew. He looked to the 

 cocoa planters of this island to try experiments so as to 



