71 



hot air lowering the temperature of the coffee was also 

 favourable in another point of view, seeing that it has been 

 shown that heat is one of the conditions which promotes 

 mouldiness, or the germination of fungi. 



Every bushel of parchment coffee contains half a cubic 

 foot of air, a fact ascertained by a bushel which took thirty- 

 three measures of water to fill it. "When full of newly- 

 washed coffee it took thirteen of these measures of the water 

 to displace the air from the interstices of the beans without 

 overflowing, so that we have 13 33 of air in a bushel of 

 coffee ; in other words, half a cubic foot. Hence, the fans in 

 use are capable of giving a fresh atmosphere to 28.000 

 bushels of coffee every minute, or in the same time four fresh 

 atmospheres to 7000 bushels. 



During a continuance of nearly three months of wet 

 weather which occurred at one crop time, the coffee in the 

 curing-house dried very slowly, but was kept in a perfectly 

 fresh and sweet state without the intervention of any manual 

 labour, further than in depositing each day's increase in the 

 lower floor to dry off the surface water, and removing that of 

 each previous day to the upper floor, where it was spread on 

 the top of all the coffee that had previously accumulated. 

 These three mouths of wet weather were succeeded by a 

 fortnight of very dry weather, and, on examining the coffee 

 at the end of that period, it was found to have reached the 

 dry horny stage at which it is usual to despatch it from the 

 estate to Colombo, for the purpose of being peeled and 

 shipped. On examining the beans they were found to be of 

 that clear colour which distinguishes coffee carefully cured in 

 small quantities, with the advantage of the most favourable 

 weather. Under like circumstances, viz. during such a con- 

 tinuation of wet weather, it would have been impossible to 

 preserve the coffee free from more or less mustiness of smell, 

 by manual labour employed in the usual way, whilst at tli 



