280 



If the boughs are too large to be cut with the knife, they must also 

 be sawn, but it is better to bend down the bough gently and make a cut 

 with the knife upwards with a quick even stroke. 



As the saw tears and notches the bark round the edges of the cut, 

 both wood and bark must be smoothed off with the knife. 



In order to cut a branch, it must be gently bent, and held firm with 

 one hand and with the other the knife applied forwards, and drawn 

 steadily and quickly. 



The cut should always be made very close ; thus, where a secondary 

 branch is cut, let it be done very close to the mother bough : and if it is 

 desirable to provent the shoots from rising up in crowds, cut a little of 

 the bark off the mother bough round the cut. 



The knife and saw must be kept very sharp by means of the grind- 

 stone and triangular file. 



Curing. 



Coffee, properly cured, is perfectly dry, very hard and brittle if bitten 

 with the teeth, of a fine deep green colour, and a strong pleasing smell. 



The berries should be as ripe as possible before being picked. 



When once picked, it should not be left more than 24 hours before 

 it is pulped, or the berry will turn brownish. 



[After passing through the pulper the parchment coffee is left to 

 ferment for 48 hours or more till the gum will wash off the parchment 

 easily.] Water is then turned on into the tank, where it is thoroughly 

 washed by turning and tossing it with a rake. The light seeds float on 

 the surface, and should be removed and dried separately as heading 

 coffee. 



The skin rejected from the pulper make excellent manure for the 

 coffee trees, and should be kept for that purpose. 



From the tank the parchment coffee is taken to a draining barbacue, 

 spread out, and allowed to drain for an hour or two, then put on 

 barbacues, and, if possible, put up that night in a hut. 



When once the sun has shone on the parchment coffee, it must never 

 be allowed to get wet with rain or dew. 



As soon as rain threatens, and also every evening before the dew be- 

 gins to fall, the coffee must be pushed by wooden shovers, or rakes, into 

 barbacue huts. 



Every morming, after the barbacues have been well swept and are 

 warmed by the sun, the coffee is spread out again, and the drying pro- 

 cess continues until it is perfectly dry and hard, and horn-green in 

 colour. When it is in this condition, it may be taken still warm from 

 the sun into the coffee-store. 



The parchment coffee will keep for 12 months, if necessary, in a dry 

 store, until it is convenient to mill it. 



When it is to be milled, sufficient coffee is taken out of the store, 

 according to the capacity of the mill, and spread out very thin on a 

 warm barbacue for 2 or 3 hours. It is then milled, winnowed, polished 

 and sized, then placed on tables, and all black and broken beans picked 

 out, which go as triage. 



[Coffee, properly cured, is worth 3d. or 4d. a pound more than if it 

 is not well cured. Calculate how many pounds your crop weighs, and 

 then how much money is lost by not curing it properly. For instance 

 for every lOOlbs. at least 25 shillings is lost, if the coffee is not cured.]; 



