FERMENTING AND DRYING. 95 



in hot climates to withstand the heat, and such a surface 

 is liable to crack and give way if not carefully drained. 

 A very good and much better plan is to lay down coir- 

 matting on ground which has simply been made smooth 

 and hard ; the advantages of this plan are its cheapness, 

 the ease with which extra ground can be requisitioned 

 in case of need, and the use of the matting as a tem- 

 porary covering in case of a sudden shower ; modifica- 

 tions of this method are to stretch coir or gunny cloth 

 across modern frames, or across trays with or without 

 wheels. Shed accommodations must always be provided 

 ready for the reception of the coffee at any moment, and 

 the beans must be constantly turned over and over, either 

 by light rakes or shovels. The drying must also be 

 rendered equable and must not proceed too rapidly so 

 as not to crack the parchment before the bean is quite 

 dry, for this reason also, the coffee should not be exposed 

 too long to a strong sun for the first day or so. During 

 the drying it is gathered in each day when the sun is 

 hot, but will then continue to dry under cover. Every 

 care must be taken to prevent overheating, which may 

 happen by prolonged drying in mild weather ; rather than 

 permit this the coffee should be returned to a tank, and 

 kept washed with running water. 



A new method, known as "artificial drying," has 

 recently been adopted in Brazil and other countries, being 

 much quicker and cheaper. An easy meany of applying 

 artificial heat is by passing an iron pipe, open at both 

 ends, through a fire outside the stove and below the level 

 of the floor, continuing it into the stove just beneath the 

 floor ; the heated air, by passing upwards through the 

 coffee, will carry off much of the damp. Revolving dry- 

 ing machines are also in use ; one of the best of these is 

 one introduced originally for drying corn. It consists of 



