PULPING AND PREPARING. 179 



into rows and trenches. The time occupied in 

 drying will naturally depend much on the weather. 

 The beans should be dried hard and crisp, so that 

 they will crack like a piece of glass between the 

 teeth. 



The process of peeling coming next requires 

 great care, its object being the removal of the 

 fine parchment and silver skin which adheres to 

 the bean, without crushing or damaging the bean 

 itself. Perhaps for effectually and quickly peeling 

 Coffee with least amount of breakage, nothing 

 excels a pair of edge-runners, suitably arranged, 

 and with a pan of proper construction. Sixty 

 bushels (equal to 12 cwt. of market Coffee) may be 

 peeled per hour, with scarcely any breakage, with 

 a good machine, while a badly-constructed mill 

 and pan will cause breakage of as much Coffee 

 as it will pass through uninjured. Here a nice 

 adjustment is of the first importance : the dry, 

 delicate and now brittle parchment being cracked 

 from the bean, a final strong winnowing^removing 



the silver skiir. 



"TTTIsTatter work, however, as well as packing 

 in "jail" bags, or inside charred barrels, is usually 

 done by seaport agents, who have more labour 

 at command than the upland planters ; amongst 

 them the period following crop time is always fully 

 occupied in getting the estate into order, pruning, 

 weeding, &c. 



Lately the question of whether or not it is 



