144 CACAO 



were not original varieties having weight qualities, as to 

 make a common strain of cacao into high-class produce. 



That a certain change and improvement is brought about 

 by the process of fermentation is a well-recognised fact ; 

 but that change depends far more upon the original or 

 special qualities contained in the bean than upon any 

 chemical change produced or caused by fermentation as 

 induced by the planter. 



No method of this kind yet known can change the purple 

 colour of a bean into the ideal cinnamon of the manu- 

 facturer, and no system is yet practical, which can change 

 the bitter flavour of some beans into the flavour of No. 1 

 cacao. In the same way, beans of a class without aroma 

 can never be made under any condition to produce the 

 aroma of high-class cacao by the practice of fermentation. 

 The " break " of cacao is less difficult, and more may be 

 done for improvement in this point than in other directions, 

 but the effect is taken to be more mechanical than chemical, 

 yet even in this, little can be done with a hard solid purple 

 cheesy bean to bring it into " class form " with the higher 

 grades. 



The fact is that the original and special quality of the 

 beans in their primary ripened state is the chief or ruling 

 factor leading to the finished appearance and quality of 

 the final product. 



That being so, it would appear to be advisable to seek 

 out varieties which make under ordinary practice high- 

 class matket produce, and to ntiaintain a pure strain of them, 

 rather than to grow a mixed strain of innumerable varieties 

 of varying quality, and then attempt to manufacture it 

 into high-class produce. Such attempts are sure to fail, 

 and time and money will be wasted. There should be 

 greater confidence between the grower and the manu- 

 facturer, and it would be far better for planters to confine 

 themselves to certain selected classes than to grow the 

 interminable mixtures that they now put upon the market, 

 which show on being cut and examined that they have a 

 range from the highest to the lowest quality. A country 



