together with a faint vinegary odour. The
buyers much dislike any foreign smell, any mouldy, hammy, or
cheesy odour.

PLANTER: And where do the foreign odours come from?

MANUFACTURER: That's debatable. Some come from bad
fermentations, due to dirty fermentaries, abnormal
temperatures, or unripe cacao.[7] Some come from smoky or
imperfect artificial drying. Some come from mould.
Unfermented cacao is liable to go mouldy, so is germinated or
over-ripe cacao with broken shells. Some cacao unfortunately
gets wet with sea water. There always seems to me something
pathetic in the thought of finely-cured cacao being drowned
in sea water as it goes out in open boats to the steamer.

PLANTER: You see, we haven't piers and jetties everywhere,
and often it's a long journey to them. Well, you've told me
the buyers note break, colour and aroma. Anything else?

MANUFACTURER: They like large beans, partly because largeness
suggests fineness, and partly because with large beans the
percentage of shell is less. Small flat beans are very
wasteful and unsatisfactory; they are nearly all shell and
very difficult to separate from the shell.

PLANTER: When there's a drought we can't help ourselves; we
produce quantities of small flat beans.

MANUFACTURER: It must be trying to be at the mercy of the
weather. However, the weather doesn't prevent the dirt being
picked out of the beans. Buyers don't like more than half a
per cent. of rubbish; I mean stones, dried twig-like pieces
of pulp, dust, etc., left in the cacao, neither do they like
to see "cobs," that is, two or more beans stuck together,
nor----.

PLANTER: How about gloss?

MANUFACTURER: The beauty of a polished bean attracts,
although they know the beauty is less than skin deep.

PLANTER: And washing?

MANUFACTURER: In my opinion washing is bad, leaves the shell
too fragile. I believe in Hamburg they used to pay more for
washed beans; although very little, I suppose less than five
per cent., of the world's cacao is washed, but in London many
buyers prefer "the great unwashed." However, brokers are
conservative, and would probably look on unwashed Ceylon with
suspicion.

PLANTER: Well, I have been very interested in everything that
you have said, and I think every planter should strive to
produce the