184 CACAO 



order to inform the planter as to the direction the selection 

 of new varieties should take in order to be able to obtain 

 those most suited to the manufacturer. 



Until a selection of standard kinds has been completed 

 little can be done by aid of chemical research more than 

 has been already published by Professor Harrison, for 

 reasons well stated by Wright in his chapter on the 

 Chemistry of Cacao, with which for the major part the 

 writer concurs. 



Further chemical work on the innumerable varieties as 

 they now stand would, the writer assumes, merely make 

 " confusion worse confounded." A reference to Wright's 

 and Jumelle's works shows fairly well what has already 

 been done, but, as previously pointed out, every analysis 

 has been done on mixed seedling varieties of various 

 strains, which must, per se, be of much less value than 

 those made on standard varieties. 



Professor Harrison's analyses were made on cacao of the 

 usual description of Forastero and Calabacillo strains, and 

 his work may well be used as the best information obtain- 

 able on the two classes examined, taken as classes ; but 

 it cannot be doubted that, if single selected trees are 

 examined, different and far more interesting and profitable 

 results would become apparent. Meanwhile, Harrison's 

 Tables are the fullest yet available on West Indian produce, 

 the Forastero variety may be looked upon as a good mean 

 between the highest and lowest classes of West Indian 

 cacao, and the analyses are therefore again included in 

 full. 



It is public knowledge that the husks or skins of the bean 

 are put to economic use, but reference to previous notes 

 on the treatment of cacao in curing shows that in treatment 

 the skin is covered with extraneous matter which would 

 preclude its being manufactured into anything but the 

 lowest class of material. As, however, the skin or husk is 

 only used after complete roasting, during which most of 

 the external matter disappears as dust, objection to its use 

 is somewhat minimised. 



