584 



rJuNE 1908. 



Correspondence. 



DRYING OP UACAO. 



Botanical Department, 



Trinidad, 25th January. 1908. 



Sir,— 1 am in possession of your letter 

 of 12th December, 1907, asking inform- 

 ation as to the process of drying cacao in 

 Trinidad, and for plans of drying houses. 



The information you require is given 

 in my work on cacao, a copy of which 

 was forwarded to Ceylon some years 

 since ; and there are illustrations of 

 some of the best drying houses in Trini- 

 dad and Grenada in Preuss ' account of 

 his expedition to Central and South 

 America, 1899-190C. 



To these may now be added the arti- 

 ficial dryer made by Gordon of London, 

 and that used by Hoadley in Trinidad. 

 These are mechanical dryers of an ex- 

 pensive character, the latter doing its 

 work extremely well. Its main parts 

 are first a circular floor pierced with holes 

 to which hot air is driven by blast from 

 below, by means of a funnel-shaped 

 apparatus, the cacao being kept moving 

 by rotating ploughs which throw the 

 cacao from side to side with a slow 

 motion. 



The majority of estates, however, still 

 depend upon sun heat on open floors 

 covered by a running roof to protect 

 against rain. These are made in various 

 forms and sizes, to suit each particular 

 position, but in general are elevated, so 

 as to give rooms beneath for foment- 

 ation boxes and storage &c. The floors 

 are of wood universally. 



The manipulation of the cacao is well 

 given in the Bull. Miss, Information, 



Trinidad, 1901, p. 113, which is the 

 method adopted on the Government 

 Estate uuder my charge and is written 

 by the manager. For cacao made by 

 this process we invariably obtain highest 

 market prices. It should be noted, how- 

 ever, that it is applied to a strain of 

 cacao dominated by the Forestero 

 variety, and if the Criollo varieties are 

 to be treated the period of fermentation 

 would be shorter, but the general treat- 

 ment the same. 



In Grenada the houses for drying are 

 somewhat different from those in use 

 in Trinidad, as in the former the trays 

 are made to draw out on rails, and are 

 shut up when rain falls, while in Trini- 

 dad the floor is always stationary and 

 the roof moves. There is more labour 

 in the Grenada method as the whole 

 weight of cacao has to be moved, while 

 a single man can cover in the Trinidad 

 floor. The roof run on wheels on light 

 railway rails. The methods of ferment- 

 ation and drying are well described by 

 Wright in Chapt. IX. of his work on 

 Cacao. No washing is used in the pre- 

 paration of Trinidad cacao, as it is found 

 that the mucilage properly treated forms 

 a protective covering to the bean pre- 

 venting the entry of mould fungi to a 

 large extent, and obviates breakage of 

 the shell of the bean. 



A description of Hoadley's drier is to 

 be found in the West Indian Bulletin, 

 and also in Trinidad Bull., p. 209, 1905, 

 Vol. VI. 



I regret I am unable to forward you 

 plans of our Cacao houses, but they are 

 simple in the extreme, and a view of one 

 of Preuss' illustrations should be suffi- 

 cient to enable any intelligent mechanic 

 to construct a suitable building. 



If I have omitted anything that you 

 specially require the details of, I shall 

 be glad to oblige later. 



Meanwhile I remain, 



Yours faithfully, 



J. H. HART. 

 Superintendent, R. B. Gardens, 

 Trinidad. 



The Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, 

 Ceylon. 



