170 CACAO 



is sun-dried by apparatus of various forms, the most 

 common being the level wooden floor with movable roof, 

 as depicted in Fig. 52. In this illustration labotirers are 

 seen cleaning cacao at A, and heaping it for " dancing " 

 at B. In Grenada, drying houses are constructed with 

 tiers of trays running on rails, which can be exposed or 

 run under a fixed roof with greatest ease. Settlers and 

 small growers are mostly content with large flat trays 

 with a handle at each corner. These can readily be piled, 

 one upon another under cover, at the approach of rain. 



The detail of the general work of a sun- drying floor on 

 a large estate is here given, that our readers abroad may 

 be able to follow the principles upon which curing depends 

 under Trinidad conditions. 



General work on the drying floor. — (1) The first thing the 

 operator has to attend to when starting to dry a batch 

 of cacao is to see that his floors are well dry, i.e. not dry 

 only on the surface, but that the boards have no internal 

 moisture. The floors should be exposed to hot sun for 

 some days before wet cacao is placed on them to be dried. 



(2) On removing wet cacao from the " sweat boxes " 

 and placing it upon the drying floor, opportunity is taken 

 to get the picking or cleaning of the cacao completed as 

 soon as possible, by assembling all available hands for this 

 purpose. Cleaning consists in removing all diseased or 

 immature beans, the removal of the placentas to which 

 the beans are attached when inside the pod, and the 

 removal of pieces of pods or other refuse they may have 

 gathered in transit from the field. The operation being 

 completed, the cacao is then left in the hands of the 

 regular drying staff. 



(3) The drying hands now cover the floor with a layer 

 of the wet beans between three and four inches deep, this 

 thickness being necessary in dry weather to prevent the 

 beans drying too rapidly at first ; in wet weather a thinner 

 layer is used, in order to take every advantage to get the 

 produce cured, but cacao is of better quality when slowly 

 dried. The duties of the drying staff during the first two 



