May 1908.] 



431 



Edible Products. 



should be continued. Judging from the 

 results of the present examination, it 

 would seem that future progress may 

 probably best be made by devoting atten- 

 tion to the mode in which the fermenta- . 

 tion is carried out, since on this the 

 flavour, aroma and colour of the product 

 will principally depend. 



The information contained in the fore- 

 going report was communicated to the 

 authorities in the Gold Coast Colony, 

 and it was suggested that small consign- 

 ments of the best quality of cocoa pro- 

 duced by different planters should be 

 sent to the United Kingdom for sale, in 

 order to obtain trustworthy information 

 regarding the value of the better grades 

 of Gold Coast cocoa in the open market. 



This suggestion was approved by the 

 Governor of the Gold Coast, and subse- 

 quently information was received that 

 it had been decided to ship 20 tons of 

 cocoa, selected by the Director of Agri- 

 culture, and consisting of " one ton lots," 

 from 20 different farmers, for sale iu this 

 country. It was arranged by the Im- 

 perial Institute that these consignments 

 of cocoa should be sold at public auction 

 in Liverpool. 



The first consignment, consisting of 

 114 bags ex " Nigeria," was received by 

 the brokers on the 19th January 1907. 



The brokers withdrew samples of the 

 different lots included in this consign- 

 ment and furnished the following report 

 regarding them : — 



No. 1.— 20 bags. Bright, clean beans 

 of fair size but not sufficiently fer- 

 mented ; very saleable quality, worth 

 67s. to 68s. per cwt. 



No. 2.— 20 bags, bright, clean and 

 sound beans of fair size but only partly 

 fermented ; very saleable quality, value 

 68s. per cwt. 



No. 3.— 19 bags. Bright sound beans, 

 on the whole fairly well fermented but 

 containing some percentage of unfer- 

 mented beans mixed with small beans ; 

 very saleable quality, value 68s. to 69s. 

 per cwt. 



No. 4.— 15 bags. Large beans of good 

 quality and well fermented. The most 

 desirable lot ; very saleable, value 73s. to 

 75s. per cwt. 



No. 5.— 13 bags. Sound beans of fair 

 quality but mostly unfermented and 

 mixed with small beans ; saleable, value 

 about 60s. per cwt. 



No. 6.-9 bags. Bright beans of fair 

 quality but mixed with small and defec- 

 tive beans ; value about 64s, per cwt. 

 saleable, 



No. 7.-7 bags. Beans of moderate 

 quality and fair size ; distinct traces of 

 mouldy beans ; value about 63s. per cwt. 



" No. 8.— 11 bags. Fair quality mostly 

 unfermented beans mixed with small 

 and thin beans ; value about 65s. per 

 cwt." 



The whole of this consignment was 

 sold at an average price of 68s. per cwt. 



All the parcels were saleable cocoas, 

 but No, 4 was specially commended as 

 representing the standard of quality 

 which should b^ aimed at. Such cocoa 

 would compete with the better kinds, 

 such as St. Thome, whereas if only 

 slightly below this in quality, the price 

 realised would be from 5s. to 7s. 6d. per 

 cwt. lower. 



The second portion of the consignment 

 consisted of 60 bags ex " Akabo" which 

 were received at Liverpool on 2nd Feb- 

 ruray 1907. The following opinions of 

 the different lots were supplied by the 

 brokers previous to the sale:— 



VI.— 5 bags. Good, fair beans of 

 good size mixed with slatey beans. 

 Value about 68s, per cwt. 



V, — 7 bags. Fair quality with samll 

 and defective beans. Value abou t 67s. 

 per cwt. 



VI. — 12 bags. Fair quality but small 

 and unfermented. Value about 6 7s.per 

 cwt. 



.\Y 11 '— J, 3 ba gs. Fair quality, mixed 

 with smalliand lean beans. Value about 

 68s* 



VIII.— 9 bags. Fair qualitv, mixed 

 with small and defective beans, Value 

 about 67s. per cwt. 



IX — 14 bags. Moderate quality, very 

 small, badly cured, and mixed with de- 

 fective beans. Value about 65s. per cwt. 



The lots were sold separately and 

 realised the following prices in bond. 



I X-~ 7 £ S - P er cwt - VII. -69s. per cwt 

 V— 68s. „ „ VIII.-65s. „ „ 



vi.-67s. „ „ ix.-65s. ;; ;; 



The brokers stated that they were 

 rather surprised at the high price realis- 

 ed by one or two of the lots, which went 

 to a Continental buyer. 



Samples of the different lots were 

 supplied to several English manufactur- 

 ers, and in certain cases criticisms and 

 valuations were obtained, which mav 

 be quoted. 



One firm stated they could not report 

 favourably upon the cocoa, since none 

 of the lots would rank as average good 

 Grenada estate cocoa. They added that 

 lower grades of cocoa, like the present 



