156 The Fermentation of Cacao 



It is possible that the inoculation method 

 of fermentation recommended in this essay 

 will extend this limit of difference upward by 

 a few shillings per cwt., but beyond this, if 

 higher prices are desired, better varieties of 

 cacao must be evplved by seed-selection, in- 

 tensive cultivation, and the other means well 

 known to all plant-breeders. 



The curing- of cacao is in the hands of two 

 distinct classes, viz., planters, who cure their 

 own produce, and merchants who purchase 

 cacao more or less cured from the small pro- 

 prietors and complete the process generally 

 in an indifferent manner whereby the value 

 of their purchases is materially reduced. 



Planters' cacao, generally classed in Prices 

 Current as " Fine Estates," has the advantage 

 of being in the planters' hands from the first 

 to the last stages of curing ; and throughout 

 the world, and especially in the West Indies, it 

 is wonderful how "evenly" a sample of cacao 

 is turned out by all planters whose trees are 

 mainly of an Amelonado type with a sprinkling 

 of Calabacillo and Forastero. Where the pro- 

 portion of Forastero is considerable (as on 

 many, if not all, Trinidad estates), then a some- 

 what higher quality is produced. Where Criollo 

 and Forastero hybrids predominate, as in some 

 Ceylon marks, then the price is usually 20 per 

 cent, to 30 per cent, higher, and the really high- 

 class Central American or Ceylon growths, com- 

 posed of nearly pure Criollo or Pentagona types, 



