14 



COFFEE. 



gaged in constantly stirring the seeds and taking them away 

 when dried. By this process only a few hours are occupied in 

 thoroughly drying the berries. It is also claimed that the coffee 

 thus dried shows better quality than that which is sun dried on 

 the terraces, as there is no chance of its being rain damaged. 



Different kinds of machines are used to remove the coffee- 

 grains from their dry coverings. Some resemble a fanning mill, 

 and others are immense structures specially built for the pm-pose. 

 In all of them the one object is sought — the securing of bright, 

 hard, and thoroughly clean beans. The following diagram and 



description from Herbert H. Smith's work on Brazil make clear 

 the cleaning operation as carried on upon extensive plantations in 

 Brazil : — 



" The dried berries are placed in the bin a. A band elevator, 

 h, carries them to the ventilator c, where sticks and rubbish are 

 removed and the dust fanned away. It then passes through the 

 tube d to another elevator, e, which carries it to the sheller_/, 

 where the outer and inner shells are crushed by revolving toothed 

 cylinders. The grains and broken shells pass through a pipe, g, 

 to the ventilator h, where the shells are sifted and fanned away ; the 

 unbroken nuts are separated on a sieve and passed by the pipe * back 

 to the elevator e, and so again to the sheller ; the shells and rubbish 

 fall into a bin,,/, from which they are removed for manure ; the 

 coffee-grains fall into the pipe h, and are carried by the elevator I 

 to the separator m. This separator is composed of a pair of hol- 

 low revolving copper cylinders pierced with holes of different 

 sizes and shapes; the coffee-grains, dropped into the cylinders, 



