or value to the consumer. Until some
standard for roasted coffee shall be established, it is to be feared the
term "dry roast" will continue to be used for coffee roasted by almost
any other process.

[Illustration: UPPER-STORY VIEW OF A JUBILEE PLANT, SHOWING ROASTER,
COOLER, AND STONER EQUIPMENT

The parts under roasting-room floor are shown in the illustration below]

[Illustration: LOWER-STORY VIEW OF THE SAME PLANT FROM ABOUT THE SAME
ANGLE

Showing connection from floor hopper to stoner on the left, and
suspended bucket-elevator boot with four-bag dump hopper on the right]

[Illustration: COMPLETE GAS COFFEE-PLANT INSTALLATION]

The Bureau of Chemistry held a hearing in 1914 at Washington, at which
the question of a ruling on watering coffees was discussed. The trade
was well represented, but no agreement was reached. It was deemed
inadvisable to make a definite rule on the watering of coffee; because
the water content can not be controlled, as the bean starts to absorb
moisture as soon as it leaves the roaster.

_On Roasting Coffee Efficiently_

A.L. Burns, New York, is well qualified to speak on this subject. He
says:

Roasting coffee is not so difficult a matter as is often claimed by
operators and "experts" who seek thus to magnify their importance;
but it is nevertheless a process about which a great deal may be
learned in the school of practical experience. With one of our
modern machines anybody with ordinary intelligence and nerve can
take off a roast after one trial which would pass muster in many
establishments, but that same person applying himself to the
roasting job for a week will either be turning out vastly better
roasts or will have demonstrated that he never can excel as a
roasterman.

Modern coffee roasting machines provide for easy control of the
heat (from coal, coke, or gas fuel), for constantly mixing the
coffee in such a manner that the heat is transmitted uniformly to
the entire batch, for carrying away all steam and smoke rapidly,
for easy testing of the progress of the roast, and for immediate
discharge when desired. The operator's problem therefore is the
regulation of the heat and deciding just when the desired roasting
has been accomplished.

If all coffees were alike, roasting would soon be almost automatic.
In some plants most of the work is on one uniform grade or bl