t 459 ] 



year and they go on appearing every year after. About 

 October begins collection of the crop and preparation of 

 berries. The collection of ripe fruits goes on from October 

 to January. The bright blood-red fruits (/'. e. ripe fruits) are 

 collected, but deep red or cherry coloured fruits which are 

 not quite mature should be also collected at the same time to 

 save labour. 



720. Manufacture. The manufacture of the 'berry' from 

 the 'cherry/ as the ripe fruit is called, is accomplished in 

 the following stages : (i) Pulping, (2) Fermenting, (3) Dry- 

 ing, (4) Peeling, milling or hulling, and (5) Winnowing and 

 sizing. 



721. (i) Pulping. The pulp surrounding the beans is 

 removed by a machine, called the Disc-pulper or Cylinder- 

 pulper, when the cherries are still fresh. The Disc-pulper 

 consists of rotating discs the surfaces of which are covered 

 with sheet copper roughened by having projections punched 

 forward. It pulps 20 to 25 bushels of cherries per hour work- 

 ed by 3 labourers. A double pulper of this type has two such 

 discs and is furnished with a feeding roller and it pulps 40 

 bushels per hour worked by 4 to 6, coolies, or double this 

 amount, worked by steam. The discs work against smooth 

 iron beds so adjusted that the complete cherry cannot pass 

 between them without getting torn upwards against the beds, 

 and the projections on the discs tear off the pulp, allowing 

 the beans to drop into one receiver and the fragmentary pulp 

 to be carried into another. The Cylinder-pulper, in construc- 

 tion, is not unlike the cotton-gin which drags the lint forward 

 and lets the seeds drop behind. A stream of water flows 

 into the pulper all the time it is working. By means of sieves 

 the cleaned beans are separated from partially pulped cherries, 

 the latter being made to pass once more through the pulpen 

 The stream of water with the stones is carried down from the 

 loft by a tube which dips to the bottom of a basin known as 

 the hopper. 



