66 
CHAPTER III. 
By Dr. FICKENDEY. 
Ir was originally intended to follow up the 
question of cacao fermentation to its final 
conclusion before publishing any report on 
what had been done towards that end. As, 
however, the investigations and experiments 
carried out so far have yielded results likely 
to be of use to planters and others if tried on 
a commercial scale, | feel justified in publishing 
the following details, without waiting for the 
final conclusions to be arrived at. 
When preparing green cacao (z.¢., the beans 
as taken from the pods), two different pro- 
cesses are necessary, and must be distinctly 
recognized by those having to carry out the 
operation of turning such beans into the cacao 
of commerce. On the one hand, there is the 
fermentation of the pulp which surrounds the 
beans—that slimy, sugary’ mass in which 
the beans are embedded in the pods; whilst, 
on the other ‘hand, we have those processes 
which go on inside of and affect. the bean 
itself, and which, on the whole, are only 
indirectly caused by agencies arising as one 
