BOOK III. CHAP. VII. ^% 



more dry, to be prepared for the market; inflead of keeping thefm in- 

 volved in a clammy juice, which will not pafs off freely in a damp 

 atmofphere, but corrupts and hurts the ieed. The proprietors of ex- 

 tenfive walks fhould provide themfelves with a large barbacue, or 

 platform, terraffed or planked, to fiiiifh the drying of the feed ; and, 

 if it was contrived under a roof, it would be more eligible than the 

 common method of laying them open to the weather, as tlie quantity 

 fpread over a large platform cannot be ealily refcued from a fudden 

 (hower. A drying houfe therefore, with one or more floors, which 

 would admit a free current of air, and exclude the rain and fun- 

 flnine, might be molf proper. After the berries are thorouglily 

 dried, they are cleared of their coat or hulk. This was formerly 

 performed in Jamaica by pounding them in large mortars ; a laborious 

 and very improper method, as, by the violent and llicceiTive blows 

 of the peftle, they were frequently contufed, and broke in pieces. 



The Arabians, after having dried their coffee fufficiently upon 

 mats, i'pread it on an even floor, and break off the hulk by pafiing a 

 heavy wooden roller to and fro upon it; they then winnow and 

 cleanfe it, and expofe it to the air for fome days, to give it a more 

 perfedl drying, without which it would be apt to heat, and fo lofe 

 its flavour. The praftice now ufed in Jamaica, fince it has come 

 into more general cultivation, is fimilar to the Arabian; the hulk 

 being taken off by machines turned by mules. Wooden rollers are 

 preferable either to flone or iron ; for the (lone is fubjeft to depofite 

 a grit, and the iron a ruft: and the large timbers of Jamaica are 

 fufficiently ponderous. The advantages of the roller are the difpatch 

 of work, and equality of p refill re ; both which contribute to render 

 this article more fit for market, as well as more profitable. And the 

 advantages of delaying to gather the berries, till they are dry and 

 fhriveled, are, that the hufks may betaken oft with the utmoft faci- 

 lity, and the berries be impregnated with the bell flavour [il. 



The great fault of the Weft-India cofiee is the want of flavour, or 

 having a difagreeable one. This may be attributed to feveral caufes. . 



I. The growing in too moill: a foil; which (though it always in- 

 creafes the fize of fruit and vegetables, yet) greatly depreciates tlicir 

 quality. 



[i:] The moft approved engines., nnw ufed in this illand, were invented by the ingeniovis Mr. 

 Latham, and are capable of clcanin^;^ one hundred hogfhcads in a day. 



4 S 2 2. Gatherinjr 



'^ 



