154 CACAO 



present during fermentation and, in fact, " stewing in their 

 own juice." 



On many of the finest Trinidad estates and on the 

 mainland of South America " clayed cacao " is prepared 

 for the market by coating it with a thin covering of fine 

 clay. The clay used has been described by a well-known 

 chemist as " a very fine ferruginous clay, free from organic 

 matter. The portion soluble in hydrochloric acid consists 

 mainly of ferric oxide, with a quantity of alumina. The 

 insoluble portion is a mixture of silica and pure clay, i.e. 

 silicate of alumina." * 



The loss of weight during fermentation has been found 

 to be as follows. From experiments nxade at River 

 Estate, Trinidad, under the writer's direction, it was 

 shown that the loss during fermentation is 14 per cent., 

 and the loss in drying 56 per cent., and the total loss, 

 calculated on the first weight, 62-5 per cent. The per- 

 centage of marketable cacao produced from the raw 

 material, therefore, shows 37*5 per cent. A similar 

 experiment was carried out in the island of Dominica, 

 under the auspices of the Imperial Department of Agri- 

 culture, and the results published in the Agricultural News 

 show that under their trial the loss was found to be 4*5 

 per cent, lower than in the Trinidad experiment. It was 

 to be anticipated that some such variation would occur 

 in making such experiments at different places, and it is 

 thought that the difference is due mainly to variation in 

 humidity, and the difference in the water contents of the 

 cacao beans operated upon, points which might easily be 

 determined if deemed necessary, by laboratory experiments 

 devised to show the actual water content of the different 

 samples used. Our experiments were carried out on two 

 separate lots, the first weighing 2600 lb. and the latter 

 2722 lb. of " wet " cacao, or cacao beans in pulp fresh 

 from the field. 



Many experiments have been carried out to ascertain 

 the best form of " sweat-box " or fermenting bin. One of 



* " Bowrey in Cacao : How to Grow and How to Cute It," D. Morris, 1882. 



