MANUAL OF THE NILAGIRI DISTRICT, 501 



the coffee), notes the quantity picked b}' each, and either gives CH. XXVIII, 



tickets, or credits each cooly in the check roll with the quantity cof7ee 



brought in. Some planters allow the cherry to stand till the Cultivation. 



next morning, but this plan is very apt to heat the coffee and 



make it " foxy,^' as it is called, that is, to cause red spots to 



appear in the beans, and I always have my cherry coffee pulped 



the same night. Strictly speaking, coffee should not be picked 



until it is fully ripe, that is to say, until each berry is of a 



rich purple verging on black, but in practice this is impossible 



even with the largest gangs, and sometimes when the coffee 



ripens simultaneously all over the plantation, a larger or smaller 



percentage drops before it can be picked, especially if there are 



showers or strong winds at the time. At the same time coolies 



are fearfully careless, and it is necessary to watch carefully that 



they do not strip the branches and bring in ripe and green 



berries and even leaves. 



After it is pulped, the coffee will require to stand from 18 

 to 24 hours, according to the altitude of the plantation, to 

 ferment, as until this process has been undergone it is found 

 impossible to wash the coffee (now become parchment) clean, 

 that is, to get rid of the mucilage which envelopes it when pulped. 

 When thoroughly washed it is exposed to the sun on barbacues or 

 drying tables until sufficiently dry, which operation takes from 

 four to six days, and it is then transferred to the store to await 

 the arrival of bandies or bullocks to convey it to the cleaning 

 or shipping agents, as no planter cleans and packs his own coffee. 

 As soon as the parchment coffee reaches the cleaning agent, 

 it is exposed to the sun for another day or two, and it is then 

 peeled by machinery, which operation gets rid of the parchment 

 and silver skins. 



The old plan was to have the coffee pounded in large wooden 

 mortars in order to get rid of the parchment and silver skins, but 

 of late years a double iron roller with fluted bottom, revolving 

 very rapidly in an iron receptacle and driven by steam has been 

 very generally introduced. This peeling machine is on the same 

 principle as the chunam grinding and mixing mill so common 

 in India, but made of iron instead of wood and driven by steam 

 instead of horses or bullocks. After being peeled the coffee is 

 poured into a winnowing machine, also driven by steam, which 

 drives off the parchment skin (now reduced to a fine powder 

 and used as fuel for the engine boilers) and delivers the clean 

 coffee into bags. This coffee is then sized by means of a 

 machine made of metal perforated with holes increasing in size 

 as it reaches the end, and from these different holes the various 

 sizes drop into boxes or bins. After being sized by machinery, 

 the coffee is handed over to the garbling women who, with 



