350 
SPICES 
CHAP. 
with a good draught of wind. The cardamoms took 
longer to dry than if they had been exposed to the sun, 
but there was no perceptible difference between them 
and the sun-dried ones. 
However, the sunlight would no doubt be of advantage 
to partly bleach the cardamoms and make them of an 
attractive colour. 
In case of sudden showers Owen suggests putting 
the drying trays on wooden rails 3 ft. above the ground 
and to have a tarpaulin covering which can be readily 
spread over them on the approach of rain. Formerly 
coffee planters used to have a somewhat similar apparatus 
for drying the coffee, which, however, was quicker and 
more convenient ; the roofing was fastened to a frame 
which ran on wheels, and a simple push sent the roof 
quickly along so as to cover a whole row of trays at 
once. 
The Curing -house . — This is required in damp or dull 
weather. It is a simply constructed building of wood, 
roofed by the ordinary local thatch. Owen recommends 
that the walls be open, of louvre-boarding, or open 
trellis round the room, with plain shutters to close when 
the weather is rainy. Thus you get a free current of 
air when it is dry, and a protection from damp in the 
rain. It should have as many glazed windows as possible 
to admit the light. During wet weather one or two 
stoves, according to the size of the house and amount of 
the crop to be dried, are requisite. Owen suggests the 
connecting of the two stoves by a pipe traversing the 
room with one smoke pipe for the outlet of the smoke 
for the two stoves. This, of course, will economise the 
heat. 
He recommends trays of wire gauze, 24 meshes to 
the inch, but this is expensive. More usual are the 
ordinary trays of split bamboo, which, he suggests, 
should be partly covered with gunny bags, so as to 
prevent the seed falling through. This, however, I 
should say, would hardly be wanted, as it is easy in any 
Oriental village to get bamboo trays which are not 
