TeBRUARY I, (892.] 
THE TROPICAL AQRIOULTURI8T 
579 
years back in which he saw no reason why the very 
best of Trinidad cacao should not be better than it 
18 now, and as Ceylon prices averaged something 
between 20' and 80/ over Trinidad cacao I decided to 
Rive the matter a serious trial in hopes of obtaining 
at least 10/ more than I did then. 
Accordingly on the 24th of October, 1H89, I wrote 
10 i^jiigland tor a saniplo of Ceylon cacao to go by, 
O'Hd in the meantime I put up on my Estate the 
necessary requirements for washing cscao: pipes 14 
uianieter and (550 foet long to lead the w’ater to a 
concrete trough 32 ft. x 1 ft. 1 x 3 ft. 
lu answer to my letter, instead of the desired 
sample which could not be obtained at the time, I 
got a report from Messrs. Wilson, Smithott & Co., 
roicers, that it was not advisable toimita e Ceylon 
cacao because the principal value of that class of 
acao resided in its pale cinnamon break which, 
nether due to the soil or to the different variety 
1 cacao, Trinidad planters could not imitate. 1 
nought, however, that having once begun I could 
matter without fighting it through 
T insisted for the sample to guide mo. 
j ® interval I had prepared a small quantity of 
♦ 1 *^^ tj ^cao for the San Fernando Exhibition and 
tiJ®. ble W. Gordon, one of the Judges who gave 
ftt sample a 1st prize, having informed me that it 
®^*/nlar in external colour to the host Ceylon 
acao ho had seen in England and that the beans 
©re twice tlie size of Ceylon beans, I immediately 
^ar£et ^ of 13 bags for the English 
®}iipbient was effected on the llth March, 
19 k’ days after I prepared another lot of 
markets ^ America so as to teat both 
whif 4 >^T received the sample of Ceylon cacao 
flnf.i /1 ®’***mbBly expecting when by a letter 
of March, 1890, I was informed of the cause 
delay which had thus taken place. The fol- 
“tS the letter will speak for itself: 
to ® Ceylon cacao which wo addressed 
two oft * “■jeel Post last mail came back a day or 
the intimation that cacao was 
havincr n? imported into Trinidad 1 We arc 
tinift try l)y this mail, by letter post this 
htLa receive it you will know it 
probably^” to grief somewhere— in Port-of-Spaiii 
hern**?' to say that the Post Office authorities 
snirit ft\ ^ better distinction between the 
authoriti the letter of the law than the 
sample ^ g^t my much desired 
and ^I^^annrr. to imitate the internal break 
cocao 12 to ‘u somewhat by sweating the 
became d«.vlr«^ , “t then the external appearance 
to anuronnh f this could not be sacrificed only 
frien^X appearance. Mv 
Cevlon ^ alao rooervecl sainplos of 
S2n“5,rf"- 5;l=rS 
received a*?af, shipment to England I 
following is an extrMt:?^‘’' 
Apn^raiicA °f Ceylon euro tlio 
conKratnInti>*..A**”*f’^^ wo most heartily 
point to he Ann” 1 result ; but after all tlie one 
West h,,l! i®~Will it pay ? One of our 
'fay and wn Ceylon cacao saw the sample yostor- 
it an nn^r. of it but summed 
get a words Yes. I daresay youll 
and vonUl oxtra for it, irat try all you can 
However the Ceylon colour inside.” 
teroatinw'nn '® experiment and a very in- 
if poasildo “ f??’ and the great object is to establish, 
asiEnd Af P"?® ‘i“® iittlo parcel to art 
of careful i'*'?oo^®nt for future ahipments. By dint 
advantatm nf^IuP”]®'^!®'! ®®'^ Brokers hope to take 
cac^3°l''‘’f oortain buyers of Ceylon 
nially hiuli "?3 *’®'"if frightened away by the ah’uor- 
can ^e toTi,m'*i”i *'®^ ruling, and if some of those 
pted to give yours a trial at some price 
between 80/’ and 90/ as against 100 / to 110/ for Ceylon 
it will be an important step in the right direction- 
Yoii must however boor in mind that the new cure 
to some extent reduces the strength of flavour wliile 
it fails to give that delicate pale colour inside which 
is the great attraction in Ceylon cacao. In addition 
to this the Ceylon production is very aiuall and the 
demand for it, though relatively large, is actually 
also very small ; comwqneiitly I'f it were possible for 
all Irinidad cacao to be prepared exactly like Cevlon 
cacao the difference in price would probably no 
longer exist, as the supply would then far exceed 
the demand." 
Notwithstanding this flattering opinion the cacao 
was put up at auction and only elicited a bid 
of mf as against fiH/ ruling at the time for my or- 
dinary cacao. It was withhold however by my in- 
structions and later on, after great pains and tact 
by the part of my agents was disposed of at 8 ii'. 
I was advised at the same time that this sale must 
be regarded purely as an experiment and not as 
having established a market value. 
In America the second lot met with a ready sale 
at 174 cents per lb. and having received the account 
sales of this lot before that of the 13 bogs to England 
I continued to ship to America a few parcels of 5 
and 7 bags respectively which fetched Id to 16* cents 
hrom there also I was informed that if any groat 
quantity of this cacao was shipped at a time the 
price would fall; and so it turned out, for others 
Bhu>p®d to .America also and the price fell to 14* 
The crop having come to an end I could not con- 
tinue to ship until October this year, when I wrote 
homo to say that I was going to prepare all my 
crop Ceylon fashion and asking for an opinion oh 
the matter. But the price of ordinary cacao having 
gone np 2/, I thought it was wise to send a trW 
shipment of both qualities at the same time before 
running the risk of losing the advantage of a rising 
market for the ordinary kind. Consequently I pre- 
pared 17 bags ordinary and 10 bags Ceylon fashion 
which were shipped by the same boat and put up 
to auction at tlie same time. Tlio former was sold 
at 66/ and the latter at 68, ; but on account of the 
difference in weight the former yielded £5 17 3 gross 
and the latter £.5 9 6 ^oss, that is 7, 6 loss notwith- 
standing the difference in price. I was advised there- 
fore tliat taking into account the great loss in 
weigiit in preparing your cacao Ceylon fashion it 
aoeiiia to ns that the small extra price you will 
obtn .111 for it will not coinpensiito you." 
It is needless to say that I am lollowing that ad- 
vise, the more so that my next lot of ordinary cacao 
was sold at 68 ', the same price which the Ceylon 
process had fetched. 
With regard to the loss in weight as from one 
method to the other, the question was practically 
settled by Mr. C. de Verteuil, of Maraocos Bay who 
from the same sweating-box weighed a certain quan- 
tity of ciiied cacao and prepared that lot, the or- 
dinary way of dancing, nibbing and sun-drying, and 
weighed again an eimal qnantity which was im- 
mediately washed and sun-dried. The difference was 
14 per cent, less for the washed sample when dried. 
I was then present when this test was token 
and did not renew it. But in course of practice I 
call again say that the same number of baskets 
uioftsured m tho field which gave mo a bag of 
ordinary cacao also gave me a bag of Ceylon 
prepared cacao, with this difference that tlie Coylon 
hags weighed 12 to 14 percent. loss than the others. 
Practically therefore I may state that the loss of 
weight in washing is 14 per cent. 
Tno actual results, so far as I am concerned aliow 
that tho English market is not ready to take up our 
cacao, washed, at a nnioh higher price than the or- 
dinary kind, whilst in America only small quantities 
at a time can be depended upon to fetch good prices 
But does that settle the matter once and for always 
again .4 washed cacao ? I hope I may not be looked 
upon as a utopiat if I venture to submit that not 
withstanding this initial failure, to wash cacao ’is the 
only rational way of preparing that article for ihl 
following reasons : — 
Ut-It 1^ indisputaWo that the cacao shell with 
