66 



allow of its being removed into the upper floor. The daily 

 number of bushels picked from any, or the same plantation, 

 is of course a variable quantity : depending on the extent of 

 the cultivation, the quality of the trees, the number of hands 

 employed, and the elevation of the land ; the latter, when 

 considerable, having the effect of prolonging the picking 

 season. The stove is more than sufficient for a daily picking 

 of 400 bushels of cherries. 



The heating stove ia square, has a waggon head with 

 a semicircular opening in the centre for the passage of 

 air, and is constructed of stout sheet-iron. It is placed 

 within an arch, with a clearance of nine inches all round also 

 for the passage of air, the guiding principle in its construc- 

 tion being to adapt it to the burning of wood, and to expose 

 as much heating surface as possible to the air which flows 

 past it into the air-chamber beneath the ground-floor. The 

 stove opening is the only one which admits air to the coffee 

 on the ground-floor. Consequently, when It is more or less 

 closed by a damper, the power of the fans is exerted either 

 in part or altogether on the mass of coffee in the upper floor. 



In these applications of natural and artificial heat to the 

 curing of coffee, the heat is conveyed by the air through the 

 whole depth of coffee in such a manner that each bean feels 

 its influence, whilst the watery products elicited by the heat 

 are at the same time, and by the same means, carried off. It 

 cannot be doubted that these applications are far more effec- 

 tual than any of the modes hitherto in use; in some cases 

 stoves were employed in the apartment containing the 

 coffee, but it is obvious that their influence could not extend 

 beyond the surface of the mass, and that, if the apartment was 

 closed, there was no provision for carrying off the air that 

 had become loaded with moisture due to its temperature ; 

 whilst, if the apartment was open, so as to afford a free 

 draught of air, the greater portion of the heat given out by 



