158 The Fermentation of Cacao 



an increased price averaging 23. per cwt. net. 

 The question that each planter is apt to ask 

 himself on this subject is, " Is the game worth 

 the candle ? " Well, on a crop of 300 bags 

 (of 1 80 Ib. each) it means an extra net profit 

 of ^45 to men who are already turning out 

 a relatively good sample. Many estates 

 could improve the price they realize by twice 

 as much again, i.e., 45. cwt., but, writing as an 

 old agricultural instructor, I am more sanguine 

 of inducing the man, who is already doing 

 creditably, to reach up to higher results than of 

 inducing the man who is in the habit of throw- 

 ing away 50 a year by exporting poor cacao 

 to amend his ways. 



Turning to the merchants' part in cacao 

 curing, where the reward offered for good work 

 is so much larger, and the men engaged in it 

 are supposed to be very keen on an extra 

 profit, one should hope for good results, were 

 it not that the merchants' past record in this 

 matter is such an unpromising one. It is not 

 unusual for a single cacao-buying firm in the 

 West Indies, Brazil or West Africa, to pur- 

 chase, cure and export many thousand bags of 

 cacao each year. Owing to the prevalence of 

 cacao stealing, most cacao-producing countries 

 have laws prohibiting the purchase of freshly 

 picked cacao, and, although this complicates 

 the curing question for the merchant, yet one 

 must acknowledge the extreme usefulness of 

 this precaution in bringing offenders to justice ; 



