PREFACE 



ALTHOUGH there are several excellent scien- 

 tific works dealing in a detailed manner with 

 the cacao bean and its products from the various 

 view points of the technician, there is no comprehen- 

 sive modern work written for the general reader. Until 

 that appears, I offer this little book, which attempts to 

 cover lightly but accurately the whole ground, includ- 

 ing the history of cacao, its cultivation and manufacture. 

 This is a small book in which to treat of so large a 

 subject, and to avoid prolixity I have had to generalise. 

 This is a dangerous practice, for what is gained in 

 brevity is too often lost in accuracy : brevity may be 

 always the soul of wit, it is rarely the body of truth. 

 The expert will find that I have considered him in that 

 I have given attention to recent developments, and if 

 I have talked of the methods peculiar to one place as 

 though they applied to the whole world, I ask him to 

 consider me by supplying the inevitable variations and 

 exceptions himself. 



The book, though short, has taken me a long time to 

 write, having been written in the brief breathing spaces 

 of a busy life, and it would never have been completed 

 but for the encouragement I received from Messrs. 

 Cadbury Bros., Ltd., who aided me in every possible 

 way. I am particularly indebted to the present Lord 

 Mayor of Birmingham, Mr. W. A. Cadbury, for advice 

 and criticism, and to Mr. Walter Barrow for reading 

 the proofs. The members of the staff to whom I am 

 indebted are Mr. W. Pickard, Mr. E. J. Organ, Mr. 

 T. B. Rogers ; also Mr. A. Hackett, for whom the 

 diagrams in the manufacturing section were originally 

 made by Mr. J. W. Richards. I am grateful to Messrs. 



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