io8o 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1882. 
ination — of the matured beans of course — and prompt 
drying without the aid of heat, give a high-class sample, 
both as to consistence and flavour. In both cases the results 
are dependent on the original chemical constituents of the 
beaus, as also and largely on the proportion of fat contained, 
aud which is the preservative element in the prepared beaus 
or " nibs." 
339. Cacao submitted to the process of malting judici- 
ously and afterwards promptly and thoroughly dried is 
secure against harm from ordinary damp and consequent 
mildew; for, should the parts or "nibs" become by ex- 
ternal moisture invested in mildew, the internal tissue 
remains unimpaired and the whole can be cleaned inexpens- 
ively. On the other hand beans not improveable by 
" sweating " readily take mildew and are at once damaged 
ail through. They are deficient in fat, and thus readily 
absorb moisture and spoil even when well dried. 
340. In two ordinary varieties of cacao lately analyzed 
fresh from the pod by Prof. McCarthy, the Government 
Analyst, the fat was only 18 per cent in one, while in 
the other it was over 28 per cent., Theobromine being 
in nea.rly the same proportion. 
341. The importance of keeping the higher class variet- 
ies separate would appear obvious, but this should be ar- 
ranged for in the field in course gathering ; but to do 
" this successfully under the present state of mixture exist- 
ing in plantations, skill and special aptitude would be necess- 
ary. 
342. Prompt drying of the cacao beans on being "malted " 
or germinated, and otherwise treated in a manner to be 
ready for the drying stage is, perhaps, the most important 
part of the whoie process of preparation, and it is, (under 
a dependence on sunheat) owing to the generally defective 
means for doing this in damp or showery weather during 
five or six months of the year which contribute most 
largely to the result of an immense quantity of not only 
badly prepared, but positively damaged cacao yearly 
exported from the colony. 
343. This is more particularly the case with cacao con- 
tributed by small growers, who, looking to returns by 
weight and not by quality sweat their cacao (almost always 
inferior from being gathered without discrimination of 
ripe and greatly unripe pods) only for the purpose of 
cleaning the beans to some extent of their mucilaginous 
covering by common decomposition. In this way the beans 
are more difficult to dry and very often there is not suffici- 
ent sun heat to prevent them turning black during a 
single night under the effect of " mould," and the sample 
is ruined. 
344. Again, put up in sacks for conveyance to store or 
dealer, while insufficiently dried, mildew and decomposition 
quickly damage the sample, and various means are there- 
fore employed to improve the quality externally, for in- 
ternally no improvement is possible. 
345. The remedy to this, and what is urgently needed 
in all parts of the island, is a means for drying artificially 
— at least as promptly as can be done by the best sun- 
shine — and to act either as an adjunct to sun-heat dur- 
ing the day or independent of it both day and night. 
346. The requirement has suggested to me the applic- 
ation of the old flue — heated floor of orangeries and con- 
servatories in Europe, and which, by the simplicity of its 
construction, its non-liability to get over-heated, (with the 
simple contrivance of a " damper ") and its great power 
of retaining moderate heat, and otherwise its easy manage- 
ment, appears to be peculiarly adapted to meet this require- 
ment as it exists with muni I growers, and who have a cacao 
house of some sort, for howsoever small the structure, 
this mean of heating its floor can be applied, at a pro- 
portionally small outlay. 
347. The same means for heating can be applied, not 
only to the largest estate cacao house, but also to any 
i. iviug House or Central Factory that might be de- 
vised, and which, after all, is probably the best, if not the 
on 1 )- means by which a radical reform and improvement 
can be wrought in the general work of preparation and 
348. The chi f functions of such Factories would be 
i,, receive cacao by purchase from the growers— fresh from 
tb e tree*, or pods, and so relieve them— or such of them 
iis have not the means for properly preparing it them- 
m- vea— of all thtf work of preparing the beans for the 
n.iirkets, and subjecting them instead to a carefully re- 
gulated and scientific process of selection, curing and 
drying, so that only high-class samples of cacao might 
result. 
349. With the establishment of such Receiving Houses 
or Factories a new phase in the cacao industry would be 
entered upon, and a wide field opened up for the employ- 
ment of the highest skill aud intelligence and by which 
that most important part in the work of preparation 
would become practicable viz : — sorting the fresh cacao pods 
into their distinctive varieties, and by which, as I have 
shown, the value of the samples would be greatly improved. 
Under such means, aud a system as time and experi- 
ence would make perfect, the outcome of cacao produced 
might be as superior to what the bulk of cacao produced 
now is, as the Usine crystal sugar is to the old ' Browns' 
(without, however, the great expense attending the former) 
or as the San Antonio cacao fetching its 105/ to 
120/ is to the ' shop ' cacao of the valleys fetching its 
30/ to 50/. 
350. It may be expected also that the present man- 
ner of exporting cacao as beans in bags would soon be- 
come obsolete, and the pure unsoiled nibs or natural seg- 
ments of the bean or 'kernel,' (cotyledons) take their place 
in well-made chests lined within, and figured and orna- 
mented without — to preserve to the consumer all the 
aroma and flavour of the well prepared article in its 
natural purity, and to indicate the varieties and their 
characteristics, and at the same time their respective values 
in a way similar to what has become a necessity in re- 
spect of wines, teas, tobaccos, cigars, &c. 
351. I have designed a plan of a cacao drying-house 
(of the style commonly in use at the present time) fur- 
nished with a flued floor as kiln on the principle men- 
tioned, and by the kind assistance of the Director of Public 
Works, I am able to append an engraving of same to this 
Report. It will be seen from this that the application of 
the plan of a ground floor involves no alteration in the 
style of structure now in vogue ; but, where the plate is 
less than 2 feet from the ground, the roof must be raised, 
or excavation be made to admit the flued floor and furn- 
aces. As a rule, however, the height of the cacao house 
is such as will admit the flued floor without alteration. 
352. The engraving will sufficiently well explain the 
arrangement of the flues &c, but it might be explained 
that the supporting walls may be for small structures of 
ordinary rough stone, and the flues would be best laid 
in gravel, or firm soil with which the whole of the space 
between the supporting walls might be filled up to level 
of floor. 
353. The flues would in all cases be best and most 
economically laid if formed of concrete in moulded lengths 
of two feet, with movable top and which, now that con- 
crete is being so well understood and largely used here, 
could be easily obtained or made on the spot. 
354. The fuel to be used may be wood of any sort, dry 
clippings even of the cacao trees ; coarse grass or even 
leaves, and with a fire kept going for one hour at sunset 
the flues would be sufficiently heated to prevent moodi- 
ness for the night. 
355. It will be observed that the trays in which the 
cacao is placed, run free above the kiln, and they should 
in every case have open and spleeted bottoms to allow of 
of the free circulation of the heat from the floor up 
through them. 
356. This plan to be efficient in respect of a large cacao 
house or central factory would simply have to be extended, 
and additional accomodation in the way of racks and dry- 
ing trays provided. 
357. The heat— which of course might be developed to 
anyneedful degree — being generatedin the floor will naturally 
ascend, and affect in its course the cacao arranged in trays 
one above the other to any practicable height. 
358. Ventilators must necessarily be provided for the 
escape, (at top) of moisture from the drying cacao. The 
sides of the'structure should be so arranged as to admit of 
the trays being run out on each side of the building on 
running frames for sun-drying when desirable. 
359. The house or rooms in which the cacao would be 
carried through the other stages of preparation both be- 
fore and after the drying must of necessity be very near 
to, if not connected with, the kiln drying-house, but they 
should always be to windward — for safety, as for the con- 
venience and comfort of the operatives. 
