CACAO PRODUCTION AND SALE in 



whilst the bulk of the cacao is good and sound, a little 

 of the cacao grown in any district is liable to have 

 suffered from drought or from attacks by moulds or 

 insect pests. It will be realised from these fragmentary 

 remarks that the buyer must exercise perpetual vigil- 

 ance. 



Cacao Sales. 



Before the Cocoa Prices Orders were published 

 (March, 1918) the manner of conducting the sale of 

 cacao in London was as follows. Brokers' lists giving the 

 kinds of cacao for sale, and the number of bags of each, 

 were sent, together with samples, to the buyers some 

 days beforehand, so that they were able to decide 

 what they wished to purchase and the price they were 

 willing to pay. The sales always took place at 1 1 o'clock 

 on Tuesdays in the Commercial Sale Room in Minc- 

 ing Lane, that narrow street off Fenchurch Street, 

 where the air is so highly charged with expert know- 

 ledge of the world's produce, that it would illuminate 

 the prosaic surroundings with brilliant flashes if it 

 could become visible. On the morning of the sale 

 samples of the cacaos are on exhibit at the principal 

 brokers. The man in the street brought into the broker's 

 office would ask what these strange beans might be. 

 " A new kind of almond ? " he might ask. And then, 

 on being told they were cacao, he would see nothing 

 to choose between all the various lots and wonder why 

 so much fuss was made over discriminating amongst 

 the similar and distinguishing the identical. He might 

 even marvel a little at the expert knowledge of the 

 buyers ; yet, frankly, the pertinent facts concerning 

 quality, known by the buyer, are fewer and no more 

 difficult to learn than the thousand and one facts a lad 

 must have at his finger ends to pass the London 

 Matriculation ; they are valued because they are in- 

 accessible to the multitude ; only a few people have 

 the opportunity of learning them, and their use may 

 make or mar fortunes. The judgment of quality is, 



