AMONG THE GOLD COAST COCOA FARMS 51 



leaves. Usually, they turn the beans, but not as 

 frequently and thoroughly as is desirable. 



In countries where cocoa production is carried on 

 under more advanced methods, the beans are put to 

 ferment in specially designed bins or boxes, fitted with 

 perforated bottoms through which the acrid juice can 

 escape ; special care is taken, too, to see that the beans 

 are regularly and thoroughly turned. 



DRYING. After fermentation the beans have to be 

 dried. Artificial drying in specially constructed 

 " hothouses " is resorted to in some countries, but 

 sun-drying is more common and by many experts it 

 is considered preferable. 



The Gold Coast farmers have nearly all advanced 

 beyond the very primitive method of spreading the 

 beans just anywhere on the ground to dry. 



Another " small far " walk brings us into the midst 

 of a typical Gold Coast cocoa-drying scene. Several 

 mud huts, thatched with grass, are grouped at close 

 quarters round a " compound." The open-air com- 

 pound is the centre of a small clearing in a maze of 

 cocoa trees, alternating with patches of virgin bush; 

 it is the common yard which serves as playground 

 and cocoa-drying ground for the numerous branches 

 of the farmer's family who live in the mud huts. 

 Within this compound are several raised platforms, 

 with rough-hewn timber legs, and a lath flooring of 

 split palm-leaf ribs. The laths are covered with 

 home-made mats of plaited grass. Spread out on the 

 mats are cocoa beans which have been headed from 

 the fermenting heaps to this sun-cure centre, where 

 they finish their whole course of preparation for their 

 journey to the world's markets as "raw cocoa." 



