4 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE. 



While the average price of the raw prod- 

 uct has steadily increased during the last 

 thirty years (from 475. per cwt, between 

 1854-60, to 745. between 1881-84'), the 

 retail price of the prepared cocoa has 

 fallen. This is due to improvements in 

 machinery and methods of handling, and 

 to the sharp competition between the lead- 

 ing manufacturers. 



In 1820 the quantity of cocoa entered for 

 home consumption in the United Kingdom 

 of Great Britain and Ireland was only 

 267,321 pounds; in 1884 it amounted to 

 13,966,512 pounds of crude cocoa, and 

 1,033,173 pounds of chocolate, in all 

 about 15,000,000 pounds, an increase of 

 5,500 per cent, in sixty-four years. The 

 population, in the meantime, had increased 

 only 73^4 P er cent. ; the use of tea had in- 

 creased only 457 per cent., and of coffee 

 only 356 per cent. During the last twenty- 



i Mulhail's (English) Price Lists. 



