162 CACAO 



and Co. (Fig. 47) has now been working for several years, 

 and has often saved cacao from being spoilt in wet weather. 

 The makers claim that this machine dries cacao ready for 

 market in twenty-four to thirty-six hours at a cost of 

 sevenpence per bag in the dry season to two shillings in the 

 wet. The machine is made in several sizes, and consists 

 of a rotating cylinder driven by steam-power, the cacao 

 being dried by passing hot air through the mass, which is 

 contained in various sections of the machine, the air being 

 heated to the necessary temperature by the exhaust steam. 

 In the illustration on the opposite page, A is the drying 

 cylinder containing the cacao. B is the heater where the air 

 is heated by the exhaust steam from the engine. C is the 

 fan. H H are the pipes conveying the heated air to the dry- 

 ing cylinder. S is the pipe conveying the exhaust steam 

 from the engine to the heater ; and T is the pipe for 

 the escape of any surplus exhaust steam. It is reported 

 that quite a number of these machines are working 

 successfully, in Surinam, Venezuela, Trinidad, Grenada, 

 St. Lucia, Jamaica, Hayti, Peru, Bahia, Samoa, the 

 Cameroons, and the Gold Coast. The writer has had 

 the opportunity of seeing this machine at work, and can 

 vouch for the fact that it turns out an excellent sample 

 of cacao. 



The following is a condensed note of a reply to our 

 inquiry, received from a large owner in Trinidad as to the 

 working of the machine. He reports : 



(1) The machine is most useful, and the one on our 

 estate paid for itself the first year it was put up. (2) The 

 cost of drying is about the same as for sun-dried cacao. 



(3) The cacao is well and soimdly dried, the wooden drum 

 making a better quality of cacao than a metal one. 



(4) The capacity of our machine is about ten bags at a 

 time, but it will take twelve, and then takes proportion- 

 ately longer to dry. (5) Cacao is dried in thirty-six to forty 

 hours ; and (6) I would strongly recommend planters 

 making over five hundred bags per annum to invest in one. 

 It may rain for a week at a time and the drying process 



