RESULTS OF FERMENTATION. 15 



tation may be a substitute for the gradual process of drying in the 

 pulp, which requires from three weeks to two months or more, depend- 

 ing upon the climate. It is not generally supposed that the berries 

 dried in this way are ever fermented, not even Sender noting this point. 

 Simmonds interprets the ordinary drying process as follows: 



In curing or drying the coffee it is sometimes usual to expose the berries to the 

 sun's rays in layers 5 or 6 inches dee]) on platforms or terraced floors, called barbe- 

 cues. These paved barbecues are raised a little above the ground and inclosed with 

 an upright stone ledge of 8 or 10 inches in height, and divided by transverse par- 

 titions, with four or more square compartments, that each may contain a day's gath- 

 ering. Dining the first and second days the berries are turned often that the whole 

 may be more exposed to the sun, but when they begin to dry they are frequently 

 winnowed and laid on cloths to preserve them better from rains and dews, still expos- 

 ing them to the sun daily and removing them under cover every evening until they 

 are sufficiently dried. By this means the pulp ferments in a few days, and having 

 thus thrown off a strong acidulous moisture dries gradually in about three weeks; 

 the husks are afterwards separated from the seeds in a mill. 



On large estates, where the "wet process" or pulping of the 

 recently gathered berries is practiced, a more or less extensive system 

 of cisterns is arranged for the reception of the pulped coffee for 

 storage during fermentation, and for washing subsequent to that pro- 

 cess. Water prevents fermentation and, if wet weather interferes 

 with drying, the coffee may be kept in the cisterns for several clays if 

 a stream of water be passed through. Lock also compares the two 

 processes, and records facts which seem to indicate important changes 

 in the chemistry of the cured product: 



There are two ways of conducting fermentation — the dry and the wet. The former 

 consists in allowing the pulped berries to lie without water, the bottom of the tank 

 being perforated ho as to drain off the liquid; by the latter the tank remains full of 

 water. The dry system is the better as long as care is taken to turn the mass so that 

 the fermentation shall be equal throughout; the presence of water equalizes the fer- 

 mentation, but retards it, and slightly injures the quality of the coffee. When the 

 fermentation is not sufficiently prolonged the beans will assume a yellowdsh color 

 called "blanketty," will be difficult to dry, and liable to absorb moisture. When 

 properly fermented the separation of the saccharine matters is easily effected in the 

 washing tanks, to which the beans and a good supply of water are admitted. 



To further hasten the process of drying, and avoid the danger of 

 loss through bad weather, the Brazilian planters have resorted to a 

 system of evaporation by artificial heat, which other countries have 

 adopted to a slight extent. If, however, the curing process has any 

 important influence on the flavor of the product, such a method of 

 abridging or altogether omitting it is certainly most unwise. The 

 probability that some such connection exists is consiclerabty strength- 

 ened by the following inadvertent testimony from Hull's "Coffee 

 Planting in Southern India and Ceylon:" 



In Ceylon the rain sometimes falls for weeks in the middle of the crop season, and 

 I remember on one occasion having between 3,000 and 4,000 bushels of wet parch- 



