200 The Fermentation of Cacao 



polish is secured at the same time by the long- 

 continued slow rotary motion. It is also 

 claimed that there is an advantage of resultant 

 weight over sun-drying by this process, and 

 its users more or less endorse this claim. The 

 machine may be briefly described as one or 

 two large cylinders rotated slowly by a steam 

 engine which also works a powerful hot-air fan. 

 These cylinders have a hollow axle, with radial 

 perforated tubes through which the hot air is 

 forced in all directions from the interior to the 

 exterior of the slowly moving cacao. There 

 are also specially designed protuberances from 

 the core that facilitate the thorough mixing 

 and polishing of the mass. I have seen several 

 of these machines at work and they have given 

 satisfaction, although considered to be dis-' 

 tinctly costly. Points that have been raised 

 against them are: the large amount of wood 

 fuel they consume, and the liability of boiler 

 tubes to burn out and require replacing within 

 two years. On many thoroughly developed 

 estates in Grenada the fuel question is becom- 

 ing a serious expense and difficulty, but in 

 less developed cacao countries fuel should be 

 plentiful for many years to come. It must 

 be noted as a very salient feature of the 

 subject that most estates possessing " Gordon " 

 Dryers are usually content to use them as a 

 4 'stand-by" and cure a large proportion of 

 their crops by sun-drying. 



For smaller properties the " Hamel Smith " 



