316 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
[Nov.  i,  1892. 
nected,  thus  making  the  surrounding  regions  what  they 
are,  a happy  dittiiot  for  the  Dative?,  with  busy  factories 
aDd  an  enormous  population,  of  industrious,  contented 
coolies— a prospeot  which  will  immediately  vanish 
should  the  prayer  of  the  petition  above  alluded  to  be 
granted,  and  your  Excellency’s  Government  act  upon 
the  powers  conferred  on  it.  And  your  memorialists, 
&c. — M-  Times , Sept.  27. 
A GREAT  BANANA  FARM. 
The  banana  trade  of  the  United  States  is  enor- 
mous. Among  the  most  attractive  features  to  those 
passing  along  the  lower  portion  of  New  York  city’s 
water  front  are  the  East  River  piers,  occupied  by 
tropical  fruiters,  where  the  steamers  lie  discharging 
cargoes  of  delicious  bananas.  From  one  side  of  a 
steamer  gangs  of  men  carry  the  bananas  to  the  waiting 
truckmen  on  the  pier,  while  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  fruiter  lies  a large  float,  on  the  deck  of  which 
receiving  their  loads  are  railroad  cars  especially 
constructed  for  carrying  bananas  in  good  condition 
to  different  parts  of  the  United  States.  Four  years 
ago  Messrs.  H.  Dumois  and  Co.  purchased  thirty- 
five  square  miles  of  land  in  Banes,  Cuba,  which  at 
that  time  was  a dense  forest  and  there  were  only 
ten  inhabitants  in  the  whole  district.  With  in- 
domitable energy  and  enterprise,  and  a sufficient 
amount  of  capital,  they  began  the  arduous  work  of 
clearing  away  the  forest  and  putting  the  land 
into  a proper  state  for  agricultural  purposes 
and  making  improvements.  Level  roads,  ranging 
from  60  ft.  to  100ft.  in  width,  have  been  laid  out  so 
that  carriages  can  be  driven  over  the  entire  planta- 
tion. The  company  have  built  a 3 ft.  gauge  railroad 
ten  miles  long,  and  an  extension  of  eight  miles  is  now 
in  progress.  They  have  also  built  a pier  300  ft.  long 
from  the  hard  native  woods,  and  have  a saw-mill 
and  water-works.  One  thousand  five  hundred  men  are 
employed  on  the  plantation  during  crop  time,  and 
Banes  had  in  May  last  a population  of  3,500 
which  shows  the  rapid  progress  that  has  been 
made,  and  it  bids  fair  to  be  one  of  the  finest 
and  most  thrifty  portions  of  Cuba,  besides  the  most 
important  fruit  centre  in  the  world.  The  company 
has  about  one-half  the  entire  land  cleared,  and  9,600 
acreB  planted  with  bananas — 2,400,000  fruit-bearing 
trees.  There  are  twenty-six  steamers  in  the  banana 
trade  plying  between  Cuba  and  New  York  all  the 
year  round.  Between  the  months  of  April  and  July 
a steamer  arrives  at  New  York  almost  daily,  and 
during  the  busy  season  each  steamer  will  discharge 
her  cargo,  which  averages  12,000  bunches,  and  depart 
the  same  day  in  ballast.  The  demand  for  bananas 
has  reached  euch  large  proportions  that  this  year 
the  export  from  Banes  to  the  United  States  will  be 
about  1,500,000  bunches. — Indian  Agriculturist,  Sept.  3. 
♦ 
COCOA  ADULTERANTS. 
REPORT  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT  CHEMIST. 
Thd  raw  material  from  which  the  cocoas  and 
chocolaf'E3  of  commerce  are  manufactured  is  the 
“cocoa  bean,’’  the  seed  of  the  cocoa,  or  cocao  tree 
(Theobroma  cacao).  While  this  tree  has  been  suc- 
cessfully introduced  into  various  warm  countries, 
tropical  America,  Bs  native  land,  still  furnishes  the 
larger  and  more  ’higMy  valued  portion  of  the  world’s 
.supply  of  cocoa.  From  Mexico  to  Peru  on  the  west 
coast,  Mexico  to  Bahia,  frazil,  on  the  east  coast, 
and  on  the  West  India  IslanuS  the  most  favorable 
(conditions  for  its  cultivation  are  nifit.  After  removal 
ifrom  the  , fruit  two  processes  are  used  for  the  pre- 
paration of  the  seeds  for  market.  For  the  produc- 
tion of  “unfermented  cocoa,"  they  are  freed  from 
adhering  fruit  pulp  and  are  at  once  dried  in  the 
sun.  For  the  production  of  “fermented  cocoa,"  the 
beans  are  placed  in  piles  in  sheds  or  are  buried  in 
trenches  and  allowed  to  ferment  for  a time  before 
being  completely  dried  in  the  sun.  When  buried  the 
beans  are  now  placed  in  casks  or  other  coverings ; 
hence,  the  earthy  coating  is  no  longer  a mark  for 
determining  the  process  of  preparation.  Much  of  the 
acridity  and  bitterness  disappears  in  this  process  of 
fermentation ; the  beans  so  prepared  have  a mildly 
oleaginous,  pleasant,  slightly  bitter  taste,  and  are 
more  or  less  aromatic.  The  value  of  the  product 
therefore  greatly  depends  upon  the  care  bestowed 
upon  this  operation.  On  account  of  the  peculiar  pro- 
perties of  the  cocon  bean,  its  preparations  merit  a 
place  on  our  tables  for  two  reasons.  In  addition  to 
being,  like  tea  and  coffee,  the  material  for  the  pre- 
paration of  a pleasant  and  exhilarating  beverage,  it 
is  a valuable  food  material.  Not  only  is  it  much 
richer  in  nutritive  substances  than  tea  or  coffee,  but 
both  the  soluble  and  insoluble  portions  become  'a 
part  of  the  beverage,  while  only  the  constituents 
soluble  in  hot  water  are  obtained  in  the  beverages 
prepared  from  tea  and  coffee. 
The  investigations  of  Stutzer  and  others  clearly 
prove,  however,  that  the  food  value  of  cocoa  pre- 
parations has  been  greatly  overestimated,  and  that 
many  of  the  present  modes  of  preparation  do  not 
develop  in  the  highest  possible  degree  the  pleasing 
aroma  and  flavor.  The  inventive  energy  of  many 
manufacturers  seems  to  be  spent  on  the  production 
of  a highly  nutritive  and  easily  digestible  prepara- 
tion ; the  valuable  fat  is  removed  and  the  delicious 
aroma  and  flavor  destroyed  by  chemicals  for  the  osten- 
sible purpose  of  rendering  more  digestible  a residue  of 
doubtful  food  value.  The  more  important  constituents 
of  the  husked  cocoa  bean  are  fat,  theobromine,  the 
nonalkaloidal  nitrogeneous  substances,  starch,  the 
coloring  matter  called  cocoa  red,  and  the  mineral 
matter.  The  fat,  cocoa  or  cacao  butter,  in  conse- 
quence of  its  quantity  and  peculiar  excellence,  is 
unquestionably  the  constituent  of  the  cocoa  bean 
possessing  the  highest  food  value.  It  usually  forms 
45  to  55  per  cent  of  the  husked  bean,  rarely  falls 
below  45  per  cent,  and  only  one  recent  analysis 
shows  as  low  as  36  per  cent.  At  ordinary  tempera- 
tures it  is  a white,  or  slightly  yellowish,  brittle  solid, 
having  a pleasing  taste  and  odor  and  showing  but 
little  tendency  to  become  rancid.  The  preparations 
of  cocoa  are  so  numerous  that  more  or  less  confusion 
of  terms  naturally  arises.  Most  American  manu- 
facturers prepare  a plain  chocolate  (known  in  Europe 
as  cacao-mas?e),  made  by  reducing  the  roasted  and 
husked  beans  to  a paste  and  pressing  into  the 
form  of  cakes.  When  this  is  combined  with  much  or 
little  sugar  (generally  much),  vanillaand  spices,  the 
various  “ sweet,"  “ vanilla  sweet,"  “ vanilla,”  “ spiced," 
etc.,  chocolates  are  produced.  These  are  also  usually 
met  in  the  form  of  cakes,  but  are  sometimes 
Eulverized  and  sold  as  “ powdered  chocolates.”  The 
igh  percentage  of  fat  renders  a permanent  powder 
impossible  without  its  partial  removal  or  the  addition 
of  some  diluent,  as  sugar,  starch  or  flour.  The  pre- 
parations in  powder,  known  as  “cocoas,”  “ bromas,” 
etc.,  are  prepared  in  accordance  with  one  or  the  other, 
or  a combination  of  these  methods. 
No  cocoa  in  the  market  contains  a very  consider- 
able percentage  of  matter  soluble  in  water,  unless 
the  material  so  dissolved  is  foreign  soluble  material 
that  has  been  added  during  the  process  of  pre- 
paration. The  term  seems  to  be  used  to  denote  a 
preparation  that  allows  none  of  the  insoluble 
matter  to  deposit  from  the  beverage  prepared 
from  it.  This  purpose  may  be  accomplished  in 
two  ways — the  material  may  be  so  finely  divided 
that  a very  long  time  will  be  required  for  its  deposi- 
tion, or  foreign  substances  (as  starch  or  sugar)  may  be 
added  to  render  the  liquid  of  so  high  a specific  gravity, 
or  so  pasty,  that  the  insoluble  matter  will  not  deposit. 
Tee  removal  of  the  fat  is  not  considered  to  be  an 
adulteration  when  it  is  acknowleged.  It  seems  impor- 
tant, however,  that  the  public  have  a means  of  accu- 
rately knowing  to  what  extent  it  has  been  removed. 
Perhaps  no  food  material  offers  conditions  so  favour- 
able for  profitable  adulteration  and  so  well  utilized  by 
its  manufacturers  as  do  cocoa  preparations. 
Here  were  given  the  results  of  analyses  of  cocoa 
preparations  made  in  the  laboratory  of  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture,  of  nearly  forty 
different  samples  procured  in  open  market  of  the  makes 
well  known,  most  of  which  contained  stock,  flour  or 
arrowroot.  The  amount  of  sugar  ranged  from  25  tq 
65  per  cent. 
