216 



COCOA 



CHAP. 



For sun -dry ing large floors are generally used, 

 made of brick (Fig. 70) or cement, or wood covered 

 with coir matting (Fig. 71). These floors, however, 

 are a great nuisance in wet weather. When a showier 

 comes, the cocoa must be quickly covered with sheets of 

 canvas ; but this is a tedious and troublesome work, 

 and the system of drying-waggons on wheels, or drying- 

 floors with movable roofs, is to be preferred. 



Photo. Hisgen, supplied l>y the late Mr, C. MacGillavry. 

 FIG. 70. Sun-drying on brick floors, plantation " Djati Koenggo," Java. 



Dry ing- waggons are much in use in Surinam. They 

 are always of the same type large flat wooden waggons 

 with small wheels and running on rails (Fig. 72). 

 When the weather is sunny they are run outside the 

 drying-house ; as soon as the rain comes they can be 

 run back in a few minutes under the drying-house, 

 where they take up the ground-floor. The top-floor 

 of this house is generally used as the store-room of the 

 plantation. This system has many practical advantages, 

 but it makes large dry ing -houses necessary, as the 

 waggons take up a good deal of space. 



