During the last few years attention has been given to this by the more intelligent planters, and it is not uncommon to find that boxes and barrels have been brought into use by them, and that fermentation has been allowed to proceed for from four to ten days with satisfactory results. Drying is still conducted in the manner described above, and is often incomplete, but, to remedy the defects of this, one of the European buying firms has erected a drying machine, in which all the cocoa bought is thoroughly dried before shipment. The skilled cocoa planter of the West Indies and Ceylon is careful to pick only those pods which are quite mature, and, in order to do this, he is obliged to go over his plantation frequently. Mature pods are those which have assumed a yellowish or reddish colour, and considerable experience is necessary to judge this with accuracy. The pods are removed by means of a cutting instrument called a “cocoa hook,” with which care can be more easily given to the preservation of the cushion. The pods are placed in heaps and, in the case of small estates where one day’s picking is insufficient to procure a fermentation, they are left for, perhaps, two days until a sufficient quantity has been obtained. Sorting, according to variety and degree of maturity, is resorted to before opening, and, again, when cut open, care is taken to separate such beans as are found over-ripe. This practice is strictly adhered to in Ceylon, but is often disregarded in the West Indies. No washing is done at this stage, but the beans, with their pulp attached, are placed in barrels, boxes, or vats for the purpose of fermentation, which is brought about by the decomposition of the pulp, and is complete when the liquor, thus formed, has impregnated the interior of the bean and changed the colour of it from purple to rich chocolate brown. The shell becomes toughened, and the remaining pulp is more easily removed after this process has been undergone. Washing, if it is considered necessary, is then proceeded with, and is generally done in Ceylon, though not in the West Indies. Drying is chiefly done in the sun in the West Indies, and the beans are spread thickly and turned constantly. Drying houses, which have roofs capable of being slid over the cocoa on the approach of rain, are used. In Ceylon hot air distributed by centrifugal fans is the common method. Polishing, which is often employed in the West Indies, is done by sifting finely powdered red earth over the partly dried beans while they are exposed to the sun, when, it is maintained, the earth assists to remove the remaining pulp as well as to absorb the moisture, at the same time giving the surfaces of the beans a polished exterior. Annatto is said to be used instead of red earth in Venezuela, but the addition of this is, presumably, with the object of colouring, rather than polishing. “Dancing” is an operation designed to prevent the