i6o 



from one another, but more often than not ferment the seeds from 

 fruits of the Caracas, Forastero, and Amelonado varieties in the 

 same heap. The only selection usually made is in fermenting 

 seeds from unripe or diseased fruits in special heaps ; these are 

 never fermented in the same heaps as the seeds from healthy 

 mature pods. When the fruits are divided into classes comprising 

 (i) mature healthy fruits, (2) immature healthy fruits, and (3) 

 diseased fruits, and each fermented in separate heaps there is a 

 slight advantage, but it is much more important to separate the 

 first group into its component varieties. If all the varieties are 

 fermented in one heap, the fermentation is very uneven, and the 

 final product cannot be uniform in quality. 



On some estates the coolies are trained to detect, in the freshly 

 fermented and washed material, the purple seeds from the 

 Forastero and Amelonado fruits from the white seeds of the 

 Caracas variety, the former having much thicker integuments than 

 the latter and being much darker in colour ; the colour of the kernel 

 can to some extent be distinguished through the integument in 

 the freshly-washed seeds. This allows one to obtain uniform 

 samples of cured cocoa, but it does not obviate the uneven 

 fermentation. The rapidity of fermentation depends to some 

 extent on the thickness of the seed integuments ; the Nicaraguan 

 and Caracas seeds have very thin integuments, and fermentation 

 is consequently effected much more rapidly than in the thicker- 

 skinned seeds of the Amelonado, Calabacillo or Forastero varieties. 

 The thick-skinned, fiat bitter, and purple seeds of Amelonado 

 fruits require a longer period for fermentation than any other kind 

 cultivated in Ceylon, and it appears to be erroneous to ferment 

 all varieties in the same heap. 



In addition to the ordinary or natural fermentation of cocoa 

 other methods have been brought forward, which are dependent 

 upon maintaining the fermenting heap of seeds at a constant 

 temperature. At the Experiment Station, Peradeniya, a series of 

 tanks, lined with cement, have been made ; on two sides of each 

 tank are a large number of holes with an average diameter of 7 ' 5 

 cm.(three inches); through each hole a perforated bamboo is pushed, 

 the latter being of such a length as to stretch from one side of the 

 tank to the other. By this means air can be let into or drawn 

 through the fermenting heap according to requirements ; the floor 

 is made with a slope to one point, where a perforated sieve is 

 placed, to allow the watery products of fermentation to escape. 



M. Schulte* has devised a fermenter which allows the operator 

 to maintain the fresh cocoa seeds at a constant temperature of 60° 

 C. ; in this method the cocoa is placed in specially made wood re- 

 ceptacles, positioned one above the other and each made to carry 

 six or more frames between which air spaces exist. The fresh 

 seeds are arranged to a depth of 10 cm. on the frames, and these 

 are then put into the fermenter. The fermenter consists of two 

 chambers fitting tightly together, and is maintained at a tempera- 



* Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale, No. 52, Oct. 31, 1905. 



