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be used in the chocolate industry, for it has been claimed that 

 the flavour of the bean is obtained by fermentation. 



I have therefore had 200 kilogram's of cocoa sterilized at the 

 Ivory Coast and have submitted it through one of the largest 

 French chocolate firms to industrial treatment. 



To the astonishment of those .who were entrusted with the 

 roasting the cocoa became fragrant and was in no respect 

 inferior to the products obtained by fermentation in the same 

 region. 



Here, therefore, is a series of experiments showing that 

 the fermentation of the cocoa seems to be of no advantage for 

 obtaining an excellent product for manufacturing purposes, 

 and I believe that I may say that sterilization would have the 

 double advantage of not raising the net cost of production, 

 whilst it would also assure to manufacturers a remarkable 

 regularity in the production of each plantation. 



Mr. J. MAXWELL- VAUGHAN : Mr. Chairman and Gentle- 

 men I feel sure it will interest you to hear something 

 of the method in general use throughout the Republic of 

 Colombia in connection with cocoa cultivation as practised 

 there from time immemorial. I have not heard of the system 

 being employed in other countries, nor have I seen any 

 mention of it made in books. The point is the employment of 

 irrigation during the flowering period and at intervals until 

 the fruit is "set." This takes place during the dry season. 

 The principal crop is gathered in June, and the secondary, or 

 " metaca " crop, as a rule of smaller dimensions, in December. 

 The object of irrigation is not only to maintain moisture in 

 the soil, which is generally an alluvial loam and porous, but 

 also to counteract the effect of what we call " hielo " 

 (equivalent to frost), which settles in the clear moonlight 

 nights during these dry months. The presence of water in 

 the plantation prevents the frost nipping the flower and young 

 fruit. This may seem odd where the mean temperature is in 

 the region of 85 F., but the nights are as desperately cold at 

 this period as the days are excessively hot. These plantations 

 extend between latitudes 2 and 10 N. at an altitude varying 

 between 100 ft. to 1,000 ft. above sea level. It would be 

 interesting to know in what other parts of the world this 

 system is practised. 



There is a disease which has decimated 'these plantations in 

 the last twenty years, and the cause has not yet been ascer- 

 tained, for although isolated attempts have been made to 

 remedy the evil, no concerted action has been taken, which 

 is much to be lamented. The disease first becomes evident 



