CHAPTER VIII. 



PEELING, GARBLING, SIZING, AND PACKING FOR EXPORT. 



THESE several operations are generally out of the 

 planter's control, and are performed by the agents at 

 the shipping port, who frequently purchase the coffee 

 in the parchment, or undertake to deliver it upon ship 

 at a given rate per ton. The average selling price 

 of coffee in parchment at Colombo, or on the coast of 

 India, is 60s. per cwt. of nine bushels ; and the 

 charges of peeling, sizing, garbling, packing in cases, 

 and shipping are 5 per ton. There are several large 

 establishments at Colombo, in Ceylon, and at Telli- 

 cherry, Calicut, and Mangalore, in India, for the 

 preparation of coffee for shipment, some employing 

 two to three thousand hands daily. The machinery 

 by which the parchment is removed is called a peeling- 

 mill ; it consists of two wheels of solid heavy wood, 

 shod with sheet copper; these work in a circular 

 trough thirty or thirty-six feet in diameter, and are 

 generally turned by four men. This breaks the parch- 

 ment skin, the coffee is then winnowed, and if care 

 has been taken in curing the coffee, the whole of the 

 parchment and silver skin will be removed, and the 

 coffee will present a clean horny appearance. It is 

 now garbled, as it is called, or examined by women 

 who pick out all discoloured beans, and it is then 



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