71 



largely in medical dispensaries. Cocoa is the name given to a 

 product of the Cacao bean,, the preparation of which is com- 

 menced in the same way as the manufacture ot chocolate ; in fact, 

 cocoa is nothing more and nothing less than "chocolate" with the 

 cacao fat taken out, which prevents its solidifying into cakes. 



All operations in connection with Cacao preparations have 

 to be carried out at a temperature not less than 85 degrees Fahr. 

 to keep the fat melted. Even at this temperature the fat will 

 harden, but the manipulation generally increases the temperature 

 sufficiently to keep the fat fluid. When the roasted bean has been 

 ground into a fine fluid pasty mass, the fat may be taken out by 

 placing it in thin layers in linen cloths, and placing these in tiers 

 in a suitable press. For this work it is better that the temperature 

 should be as high as 90 degrees Fahr. or over, as the melted fat 

 will flow the more freely. The fat comes away readily, but con- 

 tains Cacao red, the coloring matter of the bean, and some small 

 portions of the solid matters of the paste. If the fat be at once 

 filtered through animal charcoal in a water oven, it will on cool- 

 ing be perfectly white and clean. The residue which remains be- 

 hind in the cloths — or the "press cakes" — should now be re- 

 moved. These are easily broken under slight pressure and may 

 be rubbed through a fine gauze sieve, the resultant powder being 

 the "Cocoa Powder" of commerce. — Bullet in of the Trinidad 

 Botanical Department. 



DOUBLE FLOWERS. 



It is still a mystery as to what is the immediate influence 

 upon plants which causes flowers to become "double." The com- 

 monest case is to have a substitution of petals for stamens and 

 carpels, coupled with a multiplication of the number. Thus a 

 stock ought to have , only four petals, six stamens, and two 

 carpels, but there may be more than fifty petals in a double flower. 



Various kinds of doubling may occur. It may begin and end 

 in the bracts, as in the wheat-eared carnation, the flowers of 



