Dr. A. Schulte im Hofe 85 
of the air had no opportunity of acting on 
the beans, and thus a harsh, bitter and 
astringent cacao was produced. The sun- 
dried beans contrasted in a marked degree 
with the latter, and for this reason there was 
a tendency to assume that the sun-drying 
method was the best; a view widely held 
in other countries also. The beans, obviously, 
dry far more slowly in the sun than in a 
Mayfarth dryer for instance, and during the 
night when the beans no longer undergo the 
drying process, the oxygen is given an oppor- 
tunity of acting on the cotyledons. The 
temperature of the beans is, however, not a 
favourable one for the process of oxidation, 
and thus such a cacao still remains bitter to 
the taste. The conditions are rather more 
favourable when the beans are sun-dried, as 
they frequently are, on stone or cement drying 
floors, as then the beans are thrown together 
in heaps and covered over.’ By self-heating ? 
a temperature favourable .to oxidation is 
thereby attained. Over-heating, butyric acid 
fermentation and the development of moulds 
are all avoided by the spreading out of the 
beans in the sun on the following morning. If, 
in consequence of rainy weather, or before the 
beans are fairly dry, they have to be kept 
for any length of time in heaps, further acidi- 
fication as well as butyric acid formation takes 
1 As at nights—H. H. S. 
® When in heaps.—H. H. S. 
