Mr. George S. Hudson 1 7 1 



showing a profit of 6d. per TOO Ib. wet in 

 favour of fermented, or about is. 6d. per 

 cwt. dry cured. The actual expense of curing 

 unfermented cacao is not smaller than that 

 incurred in thoroughly fermenting, polishing 

 and curing, for owing to the toughness of the 

 cuticle of unfermented cacao this product takes 

 at least seven days more to dry than fer- 

 mented beans, and the cost of drying, labour 

 and space for this period must be taken into 

 the calculation. These experiments, therefore, 

 confirm the profitableness of fermenting cacao, 

 as by doing so the planter obtains a better 

 product of greater value. 



FERMENTING RECEPTACLES. 



If one may credit the literature on this sub- 

 ject, it would appear that almost every class of 

 receptacle from a hole in the earth to the 

 most highly ingenious sweating boxes (one of 

 which is evidently designed to " cook '' the 

 cacao with a uniform temperature of 140 F.) ^ 

 is used in one part of the world or another. 

 In actual estate practice there are, however, 

 very few modifications in fermenting boxes, 

 and it is noticeable that the larger the estate 

 the more simple are the receptacles. For 

 estates producing less than 300 bags per annum 

 a row or (incomplete) circle of seven or eight 

 wooden boxes, each capable of holding a 

 maximum day's picking, is all that is necessary, 

 provided drainage is arranged for the juice 



