1 62 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



fancy prices, it never had a large or enthusiastic body 

 of consumers. 



In normal times the cocoa manufacturer has no 

 difficulty in disposing of his shell to cattle-food makers 

 and others, but during 191 5 when the train service 

 was so defective, and transport by any other means 

 almost impossible, the manufacturers of cocoa and 

 chocolate were unable to get the shell away from their 

 factories, and had large accumulations of it filling up 

 valuable store space. In these circumstances they 

 attempted to find a use near at hand. It was tried with 

 moderate success as a fuel and a considerable quantity 

 was burned in a special type of gas-producer intended 

 for wood. 



Cacao shell has a high nitrogenous content, and if 

 burned yields about 67 lbs. of potassium carbonate 

 per ton. In the Annual Report of the Experimental 

 Farms in Canada, (1898, p. 151 and 1899, P* 851,) 

 accounts are given of the use of cacao shell as a manure. 

 The results given are encouraging, and experiments 

 were made at Bournville. At first these were only 

 moderately successful, because the shell is extremely 

 stable and decomposes in the ground very slowly in- 

 deed. Then the head gardener tried hastening the 

 decomposition by placing the shell in a heap, soaking 

 with water and turning several times before use. In 

 this way the shell was converted into a decomposing 

 mass before being applied to the ground, and gave 

 excellent results both as a manure and as a lightener 

 of heavy soils. 



On the Continent the small amount of cacao butter 

 which the shell contains is extracted from it by volatile 

 solvents. The " shell butter" so obtained is very in- 

 ferior to ordinary cacao butter, and as usually put on 

 the market, has an unpleasant taste, and an odour which 

 reminds one faintly of an old tobacco-pipe. In this 

 unrefined condition it is obviously unsuitable for edible 

 purposes. 



Shell contains about one per cent, of theobromine 



