SMALL FRUIT CROPS - 211 



coffee berries are taken to the factory to be treated, so that all 

 the pulp may be removed from the coffee bean, which is the coffee 

 of commerce. 



The berries are run through machines which slightly mash the 

 pulp without injuring the seeds, and then the whole mass is carried 

 over a large copper cylindrical sieve, containing perforations just 

 large enough for the coffee beans to pass through without diffi- 

 culty. The beans, as they fall through the cylinder, are washed 

 away by a stream of water, which carries them off into large 

 receiving vessels. Then, while in the vats, the beans are scoured 

 and cleaned by machinery, so that not a vestige of the pulp re- 

 mains. Then they are spread out in large fields, paved with 

 cement, and are left exposed to the sun for several weeks. Dur- 

 ing this time the beans must be stirred with rakes frequently 

 during the daytime, and at night they must be carefully covered 

 so that they will not become damp from the moisture in the air. 

 After being dried thoroughly, the double skins or envelopes, 

 which surround the seed, must be removed, and the beans are 

 passed through a machine which breaks the skins and fans away 

 the chaff. Finally, the beans have to be sorted and graded and 

 put into sacks ready for shipment. Each sack holds about one 

 hundred and thirty-two pounds. After being shipped to this 

 country in the raw state, coffee is prepared for use by roasting the 

 olive-green beans until they take on a rich brown color, and then 

 they are taken out and ground in a coffee mill as needed. The 

 amount of coffee consumed annually is very large. The annual 

 crop of the world is not far from fifteen hundred million pounds, 

 and more than four fifths of this is grown on the Western Continent. 



The cacao tree and its fruit furnish us with the ordinary choco- 

 late and cocoa of commerce. This tree, like the coffee tree, will 

 grow to a height of fifteen to twenty feet if not pruned from time to 

 time. It is an evergreen, with large glossy leaves. It has pink- 

 ish white blossoms, and its fruit or pod is about the size and shape 

 of a very large pear. This contains from twenty to forty cacao 

 beans or seeds, each about the size of an almond. Each bean 

 contains a dark brown kernel, rich in oil, and it is from this ker- 

 nel that our commercial chocolate is manufactured. The cacao 

 trees begin bearing in their fourth or fifth year, and reach their 



