466 COCOA 



CHAP. 



are heaped up not higher than 3 feet. The next day, in 

 the morning, the cocoa is turned over into box No. 2, 

 and box No. 1 is cleaned, and thus made ready to receive 

 the fresh beans from fruit picked that day. 



So the cocoa is turned over every day into the 

 adjoining box and picking can go on every day, when a 

 sufficient number of boxes is present. The fermentation 

 is considered to be complete on the morning of the fifth, 

 the sixth, the seventh, or the eighth day. As ferment- 

 ing never lasts longer than seven days and eight nights, 

 not more than eight boxes are needed. 



Generally, however, the fermentation is finished 

 after four days and five nights, but under unfavourable 

 circumstances it may last as long as seven days and 

 eight nights. This is, for instance, the case when only a 

 small quantity of pods have been picked (as happens 

 in the beginning and at the end of the harvest), and 

 also when the weather is dry. It will be clear that in 

 small heaps the temperature does not rise so quickly and 

 so high as in large heaps ; but it is not well understood 

 why in dry weather fermenting is slower in Surinam. 



Drying was in old times only done by means of sun- 

 heat, and for this purpose each plantation had large floors 

 made of stone with cement. On these floors the cocoa 

 was spread out in the morning and heaped up into large 

 heaps at sunset till it was completely dry. 



But as the main crop is reaped in the rainy part of 

 the year (May to July), often much difficulty was experi- 

 enced to get the cocoa dry, and in times of little sun and 

 much rain it could hardly be avoided that much of the 

 cocoa was lost by mildew. 



An improvement was the establishment of large 

 wooden trays (Fig. 72), moved on rails, which could be 

 rapidly pushed under the cocoa-shanty or cocoa-house 

 (" cacao-loods ") when rain came. As soon as the rain 

 ceased they were again pushed outside the house. 



But this arrangement was sometimes unsatisfactory ; 

 though the cocoa was not wetted by rain there was 

 sometimes so little sun that drying was too slow and 



