CHAPTER XIII 



SHELLING AND BREAKING 



This operation, as before shown, is sometimes done in the 

 field and the produce carried home in bags, or the pods 

 are first carried, and then broken at the curing-house. 

 The first practice is the most common, although the latter 

 is more to be commended, as the decaying shells or pods 

 when left on the field are a fruitful source of disease. 

 Economic considerations in many cases, however, prevent 

 it from being done. 



The operation of shelling or breaking is done with a 

 cutlass or large knife. A cut is made round the middle of 

 the pod, taking care not to allow the tool to go through 

 the shell so as to injure the beans. The pod is then broken 

 in the middle by a sharp jerk, and the beans are taken out 

 and separated from the fibrous tissue of which the placenta 

 is composed. 



In Nicaragua, the pods are generally brought in and 

 broken under cover near the curing-houses, the empty 

 shells being put into yards to ferment, and to be trodden 

 into manure by cattle, pigs, &c. There is thus little danger 

 of the spread of fungoid diseases, as no rotten pods are 

 left on the field. The pods are broken without the aid of 

 either cutlass or knife, by being dashed on a large hard 

 wood log, upon which the operator sits, and the beans are 

 picked out and taken to the sweating-boxes, and the shells 

 carried away by attendant women and girls. 



If superior samples of cacao are intended to be made, it is 

 very important that the breakers should be instructed to 

 carry out strictly a sorting process which will separate the 

 ripe from the unripe beans and the different varieties from 



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