SVhV 1, 1903.1 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUIUST. 
53 
A POD OPENER 
which has two motions — that of opeiiins; the pods 
and, secondly, that of detaching the beans from bits 
of stalks and pod-sliells. The whole is dischaiged 
in one mixed bulk and can be carried by elevator, 
or otherwi'se, to a sep-rator which divides all 
foreign nialter, stalks and pods from the beans. 
It was practically illustrated that this macliiiie 
could open 500 pods per minute or 30,000 per 
hour, so that the value of such a machine cannot 
be too highly estimated, especially on all plant- 
ations situated on a fairly fiat land, as not 
only is it a great labour-saving machine, but it 
avoids loss of beans, through too deep a cut 
with the knife aiid the loss of such beans 
which are thrown away wifcli the pod shells 
through the careless extractor. The next machine is 
A FEPvM ENTER 
which is certainly a very novel idea. It 
is a large wooden cylinder mounted hori- 
zontally on rollers and so arranged that it 
gives free scope for the acid to drain off". The 
cylinder can be given a quarter turn in a few 
secoads by one man every morning and evening, as 
may be required, and this takes the place of shovel 
ling the cocoa from one fermenting box to another, 
which under the present system takes hours. 
It therefore does away with considerable labour. 
After many trials it was lu'oved that the cocoa 
was more evenly fermented than under the present 
system and ran no risk whatsoever of being chilled 
and therefore turning sour. The fermenter can 
be run on rails straight up to the dryer and 
discharged direct into it. 
THE DRIER 
whichiseenainly oneof the mostiniportant machines 
and is patented like all their other' cocoa machinery 
inventions, in Trinidad, Great Britain, the United 
States and other countries, shows that great 
thought and knowledge of the nature of cocoa 
must have been had ere such a machine could 
have been designed. The cocoa is thrown into the 
drier just as it comes from the fermenting box 
in its gummy sticky state and discharged when 
dry in a round, plump, clean, polished condition 
of very even colour. The principle of the drier is 
a revolving cylinder without any envisions so that 
men can easily get inside and is completely lined 
with wood. At the top of this cylinder there is a 
self-adjusting bar which allows the wooden surface 
to pass with such bava as it has collected, but knocks 
off all beans which adhere to same. This hava- 
coated surface next comes in contact with a strong 
self-adjusting scraper, which not only scrapes the 
surface quite clean, but retains the bava. The 
beans are lifted upwards, and passing over a hot 
tube drops like a water fall, and in so doing fall 
through a very strong hot blast which dries the 
cocoa in thirty to thirty-six hours. There is 
yet another machine, though not necessary to 
a complete plant, which is a greater labour- 
saving machine than any of those previously 
mentioned. It is called 
A "CLEANER" 
and is for all such planters as used drying houses of 
any kind. This machine does away entirely with 
hand cleaning and does not require an engine ; 
but by one man turning a handle he can clean 
about 10,000 lb of wet fermented cocoa in one hour. 
This machine can discharge straight into baskets 
for heading up to the drying house lioor if re- 
required. To give some idea of its capacity and 
the saving of time effected by it, we might 
mention by way of contrast that it takes four men 
and six women 4^ hours to clean by liand 4,477 lb 
of wet, fermenteit cocoa. All the mjcbines were 
set working for exhibition last Friday and Satur- 
day and were iusiiected by a great number of 
planters, many of whom had traveilc-d a consider- 
able distance to wee them. They were all well 
re\wirded and extremely pleased at s'^eing these 
novel ideas and the perfect sa'.isfaetion which their 
working gave. We, therefore, again congraiul.ite 
Messrs. Marcus Mason Co, on their several in- 
ventions which will certainly revolutionise old 
methods, and wish them that full measure of 
success which they so richly deserve, — Port of 
Spain Mirror, April 2ad. 
BEITISII EA^T AND CENTRAL AFRICA : 
MR. A. WHYTE'S REPORT ; AND Mli. 
J. McCLOUNIE'S i:<iOTES. 
The Report by our old friend, Mr. Alex. 
Wliyte, on his recent travels along the 
seacoast belt of the British Etst Africa 
Prijtecborate, presented to Parliament 
through the Foreign Office, last rnoiith, 
comes to us as quite a revelation in much 
it relates. We mHy say nt once that it 
is both unfortunate and inexplicable that 
such a Report, covering some 18 pages of 
printed foolscap with 4 full pages of bota- 
nical plates, should be unaccompanied by a 
map, or even a sketch of the route. It has to 
be read, therefore, with an open atlas ; but 
even the latest map editions f.iil to show 
all the villages and localities indicated. 
Our surprise is to find that the coast belt 
of " B. B. Africa," extending from the 
equator to about 5 degrees south, should 
be so freely cidtivated by a people (of 
various races, Indians as well as Negro 
tribes being numerous) settled in villages 
and in territories allotted to the adminis- 
tration of different British Officers. We 
had imagined that Mombasa, which is in 
about the 4th degree south, was the only 
settlement on the coast and that it was the 
far interior alone that possessed population, 
cultivation and trade. On the contrary, 
Mr. Whyte shows us that much of the 
coastland may be compared to South west; 
Ceylon in abundant population, nuiuerous 
villages and extended or extending coconut 
cultivation. Mr. Whyte makes a good 
deal of other plants and products— indigc, 
for instance ; although he should know 
how German chemists have ruined the- great 
Indian industry— but it is evident that 
the East African coast South of the equator 
is to be a great pahrr-growing region par 
excellence. What the effect will be on the 
European market for oil, copra, etc. time 
alone will show. Meantime, we ai'e told 
that the tiees are largely utilised for toddy- 
drawing, " palm wine " as it is called being 
a very general drink, and so the coconut 
trees suiler from " over bleeding " and must 
die out prematurely if the practice is 
continued to the same extent. Mr. Whyte 
speaks of the country being well watered 
with a good rainfall and that it is generally 
well-suited for coconuts, s.ave where lagoons 
and low swampy lands intrude arrd in 
these rice and date palms could be growq 
