Chapter IV: Cultivation and Preparation (2)

It is commonly said that Coffee is an unusually exhaustive crop, but the exhaustion of the soil consequent upon Coffee culture is only the result of the peculiar conditions under which the industry is prosecuted rather than of the nature of the plant itself. Better than any amount of artificial manuring is the retention of the naturally rich surface soil by the effective prevention of wash as a secondary adjunct; however, judicious manuring will prove highly beneficial, and even necessary in almost all cases after the first or two. But it is impossible to lay down any hard and fast rule for manuring, the most that can be done is to indicate the essential elements of coffee soils, the best artificial substitutes and the best methods of applying these substitutes. The best coffee soils appear to contain about 15 per cent. of combined iron and alumnia, the iron, if as red oxide may amount to about 20 or even 30 per cent. being a good absorbent of fertilizing constituents, but the alumnia should not exceed 10 per cent. Lime is also an essential, which must be supplied, if wanting in the soil; this is too often overlooked in the anxiety to furnish stimulants. The percentage of organic matter may be too high, it should represent only about 0.2 to 0.3 per cent. of nitrogen, so that the best average manure for supplying nitrogen and potash is well-rotted dung, but its frequent application should be accompanied by a little lime unless the soil is already very rich in that constituent, for, without the presence of lime, the shrubs will not receive the full benefit of the nitrogenous principles, but its use in a tropical climate must be governed by caution. Thoroughly fermented coffee pulp is also a useful manure, but it is only half as valuable as dung and costs more to apply, it should be kept covered as it is produced, and is best mixed with fermented dung, failing which it should be well-limed, while alone is of small benefit, but forms a good vehicle for concentrated fertilizers. Almost all coffee soils requires a constant renewal of phosphoric acid and lime, which are not supplied by the dung alone; these constituents are best furnished in the form of bones steamed and ground or by concentrated superphosphate containing from 40 to 45 per cent., while phosphate of lime. Nitrogenous manures alone are too stimulating and help only to produce premature exhaustion, therefore bones may with great advantage be added to the dung. Composts of pulp and cake are useful nitrogenous manures, but they must be accompanied by phosphates and lime. Potash seldom requires to be directly applied, but is very advantageous after attacks of leaf-disease, while magnesia seems to be a necessary constituent of all good coffee soils in the proportion of 0.5 to 2 per cent., but when wanting dolomite may be applied in its place. The great object of manuring is to apply all the constituents required and in a soluble form, but for coffee the nitrogen is better applied in an insoluble form--as in dung, cake and fish manure--than in a soluble form--as in guano, nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia. Phosphates are best supplied in bones, when a lasting effect is required, but high-grade superphosphates are always preferable for immediate effect as in cases of leaf-disease. Again in tropical countries, all manures are best applied frequently and in small quantities. Regular manuring after each crop would doubtless be most generally economical and advantageous, the quantity depending in local conditions, but should always be extra liberal after a full harvest. Artificial manures should be put out only in damp weather, dung may be applied at almost any time, while lime must never be in a caustic state; when applied its best forms are gas-lime and gypsum.

The manure most freely applied and most relied on in countries where it is available, is cattle dung, and with the view of keeping up a regular supply of it, many estates keep a considerable stock of cattle for this purpose alone, and which are, in many instances, stall-fed with grass and oil-cake. But in many of the coffee-growing countries this form, owing to a fatal obstacle in climate is not obtainable, for while, in some countries, grass can be readily grown all the year round, in others it is found impossible to provide any quantity of grass for even any part of the year, and cattle have to be grazed all day to support them at all. Besides the fatal objections to the foregoing kind of manure, there are others which serve to show that it is only under very favorable circumstances that cattle manure could be used with advantage. The first is the bulky nature of the manure and the consequent cost and labor of application, and the second, and by no means the least, is the great risk run of losing stock by disease. The latter consideration should be sufficient to deter the planter from depending on a manurial source which is liable to be suddenly cut off at any moment.

Another form of manure in use among planters is bone manure, the value of which for all crops and in all countries, combined with its extreme portability and cheapness of application, renders it by far the most important of fertilizers for coffee. This form, mixed with the pulp of the coffee is a popular one on many plantations. The pulp being moist prevents the bone dust from being blown away, and when heaped up before using, the heat that is thereby generated seems to exercise a considerable effect upon the bone dust. Still another excellent manure is made from alternate layers of farm yard manure and bone dust, making a splendid compost. The former is generally composed of horse, cattle and sheep manure, wood ashes and general sweepings. The best results have been obtained from this latter form, and if sufficient quantities of the first substance could always be obtainable, readily and cheaply, it is without exception, the best yet discovered for coffee manure. Bone dust, when used alone fails, though valuable as a berry producer, to give that dark green leaf and growth of strong young wood which is absolutely necessary to produce abundantly.

The manner of applying manure is not the same in all countries or cases and no manure should be put more than one foot below the surface of the ground, nor less than eighteen inches from the stem of the coffee bush. On flat land, where there is no danger of wash, the manure may be spread over the surface and hoed into a depth of from nine to twelve inches, or, better still, a square hole may be cut between each four shrubs and the manure buried in it; while on slopes it is customary to dig a hole above each bush. For bulky manures it may be two feet long by one and a half feet wide and one foot deep, but for concentrated manures these dimensions must be considerably reduced. The holes should be filled up with any prunings of other vegetable matter at hand and then covered down firmly with the loose top-soil and the new earth from the hole should be spread around the stem of the neighboring tree to protect its roots. Ordinary manuring is sometimes supplemented by other methods of improving the soil, one of which is to loosen it by driving a long bar or a manure-fork deeply into the ground and then prying up the earth without turning it over. Another operation is that known as “mulching” or “ground thatching,” which consists in simply covering the ground under the bushes with a layer of long, hard grass six to nine inches thick, the effect of which in cold, wet soils is to keep the ground warm and throw off excessive moisture, while in hot, dry situations it is equally useful to retain moisture. But in any case weeds are kept down and wash is quite prevented, and when rotten the grass may be hoed or dug in as manure; this thatching has been found a perfect cure for black bug. A third operation, termed “trenching” or “water hoeing,” is where trenches are made across the slope, which may be either opened or closed. In the former case holes three to four feet long, twelve to fifteen inches broad and from fifteen to eighteen inches deep are cut between each four trees, the soil taken from them is spread over the roots of the trees, while the holes are left open to act as catch drains and receptacles for wash, weeds, prunings and other vegetable refuse, being emptied twice a year and their contents spread around the roots of the shrubs. Closed trenches are ditches cut across the entire length of the coffee rows two feet wide and deep and filled with any vegetable rubbish at hand, they are then covered with earth and well trodden down, while the remaining soil is spread under the trees. The benefit of trenching is greatest in stiff soils. The refuse matter in the trenches should be well limed in all cases, in order to kill the grubs and other vermin for which it will otherwise form a nursery.

WEEDING AND PRUNING.

By “weeding,” on a Coffee plantation, is meant the eradication of _every plant_ which is not being intentionally cultivated. The operation is performed in different ways, according to the nature of the soil. On light soils and sloping situations hand-weeding is much the best. The laborer is provided with a pointed stick to help in getting up obstinate roots, and carries at his waist a small bag, into which the weeds are at once thrust, and afterwards turned out of the bags into pits dug at convenient intervals, or are heaped up on the roads and finally buried or burned, the latter being the surer method of effectually destroying them. By weeding early and repeating the operation as often as necessary, the ground may be kept clean by hand alone. But when hand-weeding will not suffice, recourse must be had to “scraping” the ground, which is, however, attended with a serious drawback--the first inch or more of the best surface-mould is removed, at the same time thus robbing the plants of nourishment and exposing the earth to the full effects of the wash. On stiff clay soils, on level plantations and in damp, cool climates on the other hand, hoeing is not only necessary for the perfect eradication of the weeds, but is of itself exceedingly beneficial to the soil, and except during the dry season should be regularly done, whether weeds are present or not. When scraping or hoeing it is imperative that the operation should be conducted from the outside towards the trees, so that the roots may be kept well covered and the wash easily escape into the drains.

The coffee tree, if allowed to grow to its natural height, will commonly be found to measure from twelve to fifteen feet. But the most experienced planters reduce their shrubs to at the most four and a half feet, and sometimes as little as three feet, and in windy and exposed situations two and a half feet in some countries have been adopted as the best height. And here, as in distance, the planter should be guided by the nature of the soil and partly by the aspect as regards wind. In thoroughly sheltered situations and in the finest land a tree may be allowed four and a half to five feet with advantage, but in all medium situations, as regards soil and exposure, four feet should be the limit, or even a few inches less; in very poor and much exposed situations three feet will be found ample for all purposes. The height being determined on the next point is to consider the best time for topping or pruning them. By many planters the safest and most sensible time for performing this operation is considered to be when the tree has exceeded the height it is intended to keep it at, and when the bark has become brown and fully developed. Pruning should, if possible, be all completed before blossoming season, except when it is confined to the removal of plainly superfluous wood that is past bearing, or has, perhaps, only a berry or two on it, when pruning may be continued without injury or inconvenience until up to the commencement of May. When all these are removed it will generally be found that sufficient has been done; but on very luxuriant trees the shoots growing in the right direction will be still too numerous, and will require further thinning so as to reduce the number to two shoots at every point of the branch. If this process of handling be fully and regularly attended to there will be very little and very simple work for the knife to do, and the pruner will merely have to remove the very driest and oldest secondaries and shorten back such primaries as may be too long and whippy.

In the old neglected trees the process is more difficult, but may, with a little patience, be got into good order easy and cheaply. The first thing to be done with them is to cut out all secondary and tertiary branches that are past bearing, and to clear out the centre of the head on the trees. The removal of this superfluous wood will be followed by a sufficiently rapid growth of young wood which should be carefully handled, and after the next crop a fair proportion of cross branches may be cut out, but only to a slight extent, so as not to diminish the crop prospect. Others, again, contending that the proper time is immediately before or after the first blossoming season. In the former case it is claimed that topping before the blossoming season has a tendency to turn out a heavy crop on the pruning branches, while in the latter instance other planters boldly sacrifice the heavy yield in order to add to the permanent strength of the tree, invariably refraining from topping the plant until just after the blossoming period. By this latter method several pairs of branches, with their blossoms, are cut off and lost, but the sacrifice will be amply repaid by the increased strength added to the young tree, and also by the advantage of having a small crop on the primary branches below.

The style of pruning first required by Coffee bushes is that known as “topping,” the age and height at which this operation is performed depending in a great measure upon local circumstances, this question also being a much-debated one. The object of “topping,” or removing the top of the bush, is to restrain its upward growth within convenient limits, and, as a natural consequence, to strengthen and concentrate its lateral growth. In some countries of the East topping is commenced at the age of twelve to eighteen months, the maximum ordinary height being four feet, which is sometimes reduced to two feet, the operation being postponed until the shrubs have borne their maiden crop, even though extra staking is required to withstand the wind; the best plan being to remove the two primaries at the required height by a sloping outward cut close to the stem, and then to remove the top by an oblique cut so that the stumps resemble a cross, and a firm, natural knot remains to guard against the stem splitting down. But some planters contend that the plants should be topped as soon as they have reached the required height, when the soft wood is easily severed by a pinch between the finger and thumb, as in the case of tea. In other countries the shrubs are topped either at their full height--four and one-half to five feet--or at three feet, allowing a “sucker” to grow up on the weather side, the latter plan being preferred. There is much advantage gained in limiting the height to five feet, as not only is the crop gathered more easily, and without damage to the tree, but it is actually heavier, and the shrubs are more readily made to cover the ground. The first result of “topping” is to induce the growth of a number of shoots, the removal of which is termed “handling” or “searching.” The first to appear are vertical “suckers” or “gormandizers,” from under the primary boughs; these are immediately rubbed off without injuring the bark. From the primaries spring secondary branches in pairs, and at very short intervals. All such appearing within six inches of the stem are removed at once, so that a passage of at least a foot high is left in the centre of the tree for the admission of the air and sun. The object of pruning is to divert the energies of the tree from forming _wood_, and to concentrate them upon forming _fruit_. The fruit of the Coffee tree is borne by young wood, and as the secondaries are reproduced when they are removed, they are cut off as soon as they have borne. A constant succession of young wood is thus secured. In order that this may be regular, and to avoid weakening the shrub, the secondaries that grow outside of the foot space are left on alternate sides of the primary, their opposites being removed each year in turn; thus one is growing while the other is bearing. The one point in view must be the equal development of the tree and the yearly growth of as much as it will bear, but no more. Branches must not be allowed to grow into or cross each other, and if two or more secondaries spring from one spot the strongest only must be retained; where a gap occurs tertiaries may be trained to free it in the same way. When practicable, the bushes should be handled twice before the crop, and the pruning should be commenced immediately after the crop and finished before the blossom comes out, but should this be impossible, it must be suspended during the three or four days of blossom-time, and then be carried to completion. When it is evident that the crop on a tree will exhaust it if allowed to mature, a portion of it must be sacrificed by pruning. The loss thus occasioned is more apparent than real, as in every prolific season much fruit is wasted for lack of labor, and the trees are unreasonably overtaxed and bear poorly for some time afterwards. Everything should be done to insure regular and even crops; the cuttings should be trenched in among the plants as manure, and no branch should be allowed to bear more than two or three crops before removal. Regular and systematic pruning is one of the first essentials to successful and profitable Coffee culture. Where Coffee plantations have been neglected on this score they must be very gradually reduced to proper condition by sawing out the branches and opening up the centre of the trees in the first year, and trimming out about half the remaining wood in the second year.

ENEMIES AND REMEDIES.

The profits derived from healthy Coffee growing are so large that were it not for the many enemies which hamper the planter’s struggles and stultify his best efforts, his occupation would be one of the most profitable in the world. But as it is he has to contend with numerous foes, and the more lowly and minute forms have proved themselves the most difficult to combat in these long struggles which have been waged since Coffee cultivation first rose to its present importance in the various countries in which it is grown. From the mammalian kingdom he has not much to fear or is generally able to devise efficient remedies against their ravages. But besides the peculiar conditions of climate, aspect, drainage, shade, shelter and the many other drawbacks already alluded to, particular attention must be paid to the prevention or cure of certain maladies to which the Coffee shrub is specially liable. The number of these insect forms and fungoid pests is considerable, but the only ones of sufficient importance to merit description are leaf-blight, fly, bug, borer and canker.

=Leaf-blight.=--Is a fungus known as _Homilica Vasatux_, allied to the moulds, and is present in some form or other all the year round, first attacking the under side of the leaves causing spots or blotches, at first yellow, but subsequently turning black. These blotches are covered with a pale orange-colored dust or powder, which easily rubs off; they gradually grow in size until at last they have one part of the former with three parts of the latter, thoroughly incubating them before use. A disease known as leaf-rot, rather prevalent in some countries, is distinguished from the above, and which is referred to as a fungus named _Pelicaalana Kolorga_, sometimes appears when the leaves of affected shrubs become covered with slimy, gelatinous matter, turn black and drop off, the clusters of berries also rotting and falling. There is every probability, however, that the sulphur and lime treatment will be effective in this case also, but the shed leaves and fruit should be collected and burned as a precaution.

=The Coffee Borer.=--This pest, formerly known as the “worm” and “coffee-fly,” is most troublesome in the East, where in former years it destroyed whole plantations. It has been identified as the _Xycotrechen quadmepes_, and in its complete stage the insect appears as a winged beetle, having from one-half to three-quarters of an inch in length, rather finer in shape than a wasp, with hard, shiny coat, red and black in color, but in some cases yellow and black in alternate transverse lines, boring a passage into the stem of the coffee tree usually a few inches above the ground.

=The Coffee-fly.=--This disease has been known for many years in San Domingo and Brazil, having also spread to Venezuela, the Antilles, Porto Rico, Martinique, Mexico, and all down the Atlantic coast of South America. It is caused by the larvæ of a moth scarcely half an inch long, named _Comistana coffcalaun_, the color of the insect being dull-white or pale-gray, with a bar across the posterior end when quiet. Its motions are very active and it readily takes alarm. This insect prefers young and delicate leaves, and is most active about the commencement of the wet season, when demolition spread over the leaves, which then drop off, leaving the trees unable to produce any crop, or to bring to maturity that which may have already been produced. In districts affected by the northwest winds, the fungus generally exists as an external parasite, in the form of long, filamentous threads, covering every part of the back of the leaves, but so minute as to be invisible to the naked eye. Of the many remedies experimented with for the suppression of this disease, one only is invariably effective--that is a mixture of the best quality of flowers of sulphur and caustic lime.

The majority of the eggs are deposited, but are dormant during the wet season--that is, from March to May. The disease manifests itself by the appearance of large, discolored blotches on the leaves, causing their decay and fall. As a remedy, it has been stated that by picking the leaves at such a time, as to take the greatest number of the larvæ when about two weeks old, it would be easy to destroy the pest, as the size of the blotches would then easily distinguish the diseased foliage. Again, each of these contains several hundred eggs undergoing incubation, and in a short time the whole of the green wood of the tree will become covered with the young insects and coated with a black, soot-like powder, which renders the tree easily discernible at a distance. The bug will soon spread over the whole plantation, entirely checking the growth of the trees, the fresh, young shoots being always first attacked, and such wood as is allowed to mature, produces hardly any crops; the berries, moreover, are in the earliest stages destroyed by these insects, which cut them off with the stalk. The measures recommended for checking this scourge are to dust the bushes with a mixture of powdered saltpetre and quicklime in equal parts, or to brush or sponge the affected parts with a mixture of soft-soap, tar, tobacco and spirits of turpentine, in about equal quantities. The white bug is a distinct species of insect, known as _Psedococcus adombrum_, and is a small, flat, oval inspect, about one-sixteenth of an inch long, covered with a white down or fur, having parallel ridges running across its back from side to side, like the wood-louse, though on a much smaller scale. It is found in various stages of development all the year round, and takes up its quarters on the roots of the Coffee trees, to start one part beneath the surface, at the axils of the leaves, and among the stalks of the crop-clusters, which it cuts off wholesale, either during the blossoms’ stage or just after the young berries have formed. In the latter case, its operations may be easily recognized by the large quantities of young, green berries with which the ground beneath the trees will be strewn, and is also discerned by a white, flour-like excretion, which it deposits around the axil-works where it has made its abode. The prescription alike recommended for black-bug will be here found equally efficacious, but in either case probably a decoction of common tobacco might be sufficient when much more evenly prepared.

=The Coffee-bug.=--The Coffee tree is attacked by various species of _coccida_ in most countries, where they are known by different names, but careful cultivation has greatly reduced the evil. There are two distinct species of bug found in the Coffee-growing countries, called respectively the “black” or “scaling,” and the “white” or “mealy.” The former, _Lecumimum Coffea_, is a minute insect which attaches itself to the tenderest shoots of the plant, the females having the appearance of small scallop-shells, of a brown color, and adhering to the leaf or twig in the same manner as the scallop-shell to a rock; at first horizontal, soon takes an upward, spiral direction, and proceeds until a safe shoot is found in which the larvæ may be deposited. The tree soon droops and dies down to the point at which the entry has been effected, and where it can be easily broken off by a sharp pull at the upper part. The only course in this case is to break off the tree in this manner, and then burn the stem with the larvæ secreted in its centre. Young shoots will proceed from the stump, and one of these may be trained to succeed the original stem. The insect is very susceptible to the effects of wood smoke, and may be easily driven off or destroyed by the smoke of ordinary wood or grass fires.

=Canker, or Bark Disease.=--Is a disease of the Coffee plant which has created great havoc in Africa and other countries of the East, and which causes an annual loss of about one per cent. of the trees of Jamaica and other West India Islands. The first symptoms is the withering of a secondary or tertiary branch, when it will be found that the bark under the primary branches is decayed and blue-mouldy, the blue mould gradually extending downwards over the whole stem; a tree once attacked never recovering, but dying in a few months. All soils and situations seem liable to this disease, the trees beginning to suffer when about six years old. Though the mould is the proximate cause of death, the ultimate cause is undoubtedly due to some unfavorable external condition.

The opinions of experienced planters as to what this may be are various, being generally attributed to neglect of cultivation, to unstability of climate and to a want of sufficient depth of soil. All may be practically right, but the last seems the most probable, and is the reason given for it in many countries. Rot, grubs, rats and squirrels are accounted for in the following manner: “Rot,” or the blacking and withering of the young leaves and shoots, is due to wet and cold, and may be cured by good drainage and mulching. Grubs of a large and yellow kind, destroy the tap-roots of the plants, cattle-manure being a fertile source of them, must be well-limed. Rats, squirrels, grasshoppers, ants and spiders collectively do considerable mischief, and should be exterminated whenever possible.

GATHERING AND HARVESTING.

The cluster of buds which duly make their appearance are at first little dark-green spikes, but as they grow they become straw-colored, then, under the influence of a few showers, almost white, and finally burst into snowy blossoms, and after a day or two the flowers turn brown and fade away, the more gradually the better; when the bloom is out, the rainfall is unwelcome, but after it is “set” the shower is beneficial. The pistils of the flowers now assume the form of berries, gradually growing and changing their color from dark-green to light-yellow, which finally drys out to red or crimson. As soon as a sprinkling of red berries is seen, picking should begin and continue as long as any berries ripen, that is to say, from one to three months, but the berries or “cherries” as they are more frequently called, must not be picked until they are fully ripe, which is best indicated by a deep, purplish-crimson color, and as the crop rarely or never ripens all at once, two to three pickings are required, the second being the principal one, the others being rather gleanings than pickings. Each mature berry should be picked separately off its stalk and never stripped off; the cherries as picked are dropped into a small bag about eighteen inches square, suspended from the neck of the picker, and the bags are then emptied into one or two bushel sacks or hampers placed at intervals on the paths of the pickers. If the berries are allowed to get over-ripe in wet weather, they will be liable to burst and drop the beans, or to fall off bodily, but if on clean ground much of them may be recovered, while in very hot weather they are more likely to dry up and hold on to trees. In order to convey the berries to the curing-houses in some countries a great saving is effected in long distances, by running them with water down galvanized iron spouting, made in 8-inch lengths, laid with even gradients and curves duly secured. The berries are then despatched from the cisterns, to which a due proportion of water has been admitted, provision being made for collecting and utilizing the latter at the mills.

PULPING AND PREPARING.

The preparation of Coffee for market necessitates the erection of extensive buildings and machinery on large estates, for which no specific plans can be given, because much depends upon the size and situation of the estate, and as much upon the kind and degree of the preparation contemplated. But the site selected for the works should be as near the centre of the plantation as is compatible with securing a patch of open, airy ground to which a good stream of water can be brought. The first requisite building should be the “pulping-house,” comprising three floors--the berry loft, the pulping platform and the cistern floor--and whenever possible it should be built against a shallow cliff or embankment, so that the berry coffee may be delivered into the loft without being hauled upstairs by hand, while the berry loft is usually placed immediately over the pulping platform.

The operation known as “pulping” consists in clearing the coffee “beans” from the pulp in which they are enveloped, which with ripe berries is most easily and effectively accomplished immediately after picking, efforts being usually made to complete the pulping of a day’s picking during the same evening. If over-ripe or shriveled, but still comparatively moist inside, the berries should first be soaked in water for a few hours previous. A number of machines have been invented for this purpose, the chief objects in all cases being to pulp rapidly, thoroughly and without injury to the bean, for if the inner or “silver-skin” of the bean be broken the latter is wasted.

But the latest and most simple form of “pulping”-machine is what is known as the “Disc Pulper,” in which the separation of the bean and the pulp is effected by means of rotating discs, covered with a thin sheet of copper, whose surface has been “knobbed,” is raised into sort of oval knobs by the application of a blend punch. Pulpers of this class being portable and cheap, are most frequently used in the opening of distant estates. The “single” form is very light, and when driven by three plantation hands, it will pulp all the way from 20 to 25 bushels of berries an hour. The “double” form, which has two discs and which is furnished with a feeding-roller inside the hopper, requires from four to six hands to pulp 40 bushels an hour, but when driven by power, it will hull from 70 to 80 bushels in the same time. In the machine the discs are placed between “cushions” of smooth iron, set at such a distance that the berries cannot pass without being bruised. The cushions rest in a movable bed of iron, set so that no bean can pass downwards. When the disc revolves, the berries are driven forward and squeezed, the corrugations then catch the skins and drag them between the disc and bed. These small pulpers have an advantage over the larger ones, in that each can be set to suit the size of a portion of the crop--which always varies in size--and in that, with two or more machines, there is less likelihood of complete stoppage in case of accident. One disc pulper to every 30 or 40 acres--that is, about three to every 100 acres, two to be set alike for large size and one for smaller berries--should be ample in a fair-sized estate.

There are times, however, when it is impossible to pulp Coffee; the pulpers may get out of repair, or the weather may be so untoward that the berry does not ripen sufficiently, or become too dry for pulping. In these cases the berries must first be fermented. The best way to do this is to place them in one of the tanks, or if the quantity is too small to nearly fill a tank, in an old box or cask, and cover it with sacks or grass, and let it remain until it acquires a good warmth; then, when the berries in squeezing are no longer slippery, they may be taken out and spread in the sun to dry. For two or three nights it need not be housed, nor will rain hurt it. When dry, it may be stored for curing like parchment Coffee, but must not be mixed with it. To ferment the berries by leaving them in a heap on the ground is a bad plan for two reasons: First, when fermented in this manner it becomes very wet and collects dirt, which, in the after treatment, will affect the color of the Coffee. Second, because in a heap the fermentation cannot be equalized throughout the Coffee. Pulping may be performed whenever possible, as the increased trouble entailed by the latter process is not compensated for by the alleged improvement of the flavor and no better price is received for it.

FERMENTING AND DRYING.

The “parchment” coffee as it comes from the pulper is next submitted to a fermentation process for the purpose of removing the saccharine matter, without which the beans would not dry. This operation is performed in a series of tanks, whose capacity varies with the size of the estate, and which may be arranged in squares. The pulpers are placed on a platform above the tanks and in such a position that the pulped coffee can be run by water into the tanks, which must also be so situated that the coffee will always advance by the aid of running water and may finally be conveniently conveyed to the drying ground, while the water and refuse run off. The amount of cistern accommodation necessary for a plantation maybe based on the allowance of one cubic foot for each bushel of berries picked in one day. The tanks are seldom less than three in number--two receiving cisterns, each large enough for the greatest possible daily picking and a third for washing the parchment, nearly as large superficially, as the two others combined, that is, the “washing” tanks from twelve to fifteen feet long, two feet deep and separated by a causeway three and one-half feet wide, and the “fermenting” tanks eight by eighteen feet long and two and one-half feet deep. These tanks are usually made of brick-work, lined with cement or asphalt, but wood is much better because less cold, but all should have a slight incline in order to assist the drainage. The receiving tanks are provided at the lowest corner with a good-sized outlet, fitted with a plug and with a movable sieve of perforated zinc or woven-wire, fine enough to keep back the coffee when draining off the water, but not so fine as to choke with saccharine scum; the receiving cisterns being used alternately. All the coffee pulped in one day is allowed to remain in the receiving cistern until a slight fermentation has set in; this occurs in from twelve to eighteen hours in mild weather, but in cold weather it may take from thirty to forty hours and even more. There are two ways of conducting fermentation--the dry and the wet--the former consists in allowing the berries to be without water, the bottom of the tank being perforated so as to draw off the liquid, but by the latter process the tank remains full of water. The dry system, however, is the better as long as care is taken to turn the mass so that the fermentation shall be equal throughout; the presence of water equalizes the fermentation but retards it and slightly injures the quality of the coffee. When fermentation is not sufficiently prolonged, the beans will assume a yellowish color--called “blankety”--and will be difficult to dry, becoming liable to absorb moisture at the same time. But when properly fermented the separation of the saccharine matters is easily effected in the washing tanks, to which the pulped beans and a good supply of water is admitted. The washing cistern is provided with a sluice door at the lowest corner, this door commonly measuring six inches wide by three inches deep. The coffee is meanwhile constantly agitated by a wooden scraper or rake, by which the light coffee and refuse matter float and may be skimmed off, the dirty water flowing off through a tall cistern provided with a grating to catch the skins and stray parchment, while the sound berries are placed in draining boxes to remove the excess of moisture and are then transferred to the drying ground with the least possible delay. But should the climate be uncertain it will be necessary to provide for the emergency of a succession of wet days, when drying cannot be proceeded with. Parchment coffee may be kept in the undried state for two weeks without injury by placing it in a cistern exposed to a continuous flow of cold water.

In drying, the berries to be dried are first spread out on a flat surface exposed to the heat of the sun. The material forming the _terrcino_ (terrace) or drying ground varies greatly in the different coffee-producing countries, but most commonly the ground is leveled and then covered with a kind of concrete, sometimes asphalt is laid down, but, besides being expensive it is not sure in hot climates to withstand the heat, and such a surface is liable to crack and give way if not carefully drained. A very good and much better plan is to lay down coir-matting on ground which has simply been made smooth and hard; the advantages of this plan are its cheapness, the ease with which extra ground can be requisitioned in case of need, and the use of the matting as a temporary covering in case of a sudden shower; modifications of this method are to stretch coir or gunny cloth across modern frames, or across trays with or without wheels. Shed accommodations must always be provided ready for the reception of the coffee at any moment, and the beans must be constantly turned over and over, either by light rakes or shovels. The drying must also be rendered equable and must not proceed too rapidly so as not to crack the parchment before the bean is quite dry, for this reason also, the coffee should not be exposed too long to a strong sun for the first day or so. During the drying it is gathered in each day when the sun is hot, but will then continue to dry under cover. Every care must be taken to prevent overheating, which may happen by prolonged drying in mild weather; rather than permit this the coffee should be returned to a tank, and kept washed with running water.

A new method, known as “artificial drying,” has recently been adopted in Brazil and other countries, being much quicker and cheaper. An easy means of applying artificial heat is by passing an iron pipe, open at both ends, through a fire outside the stove and below the level of the floor, continuing it into the stove just beneath the floor; the heated air, by passing upwards through the coffee, will carry off much of the damp. Revolving drying machines are also in use; one of the best of these is one introduced originally for drying corn. It consists of cylinders into which steam enters and agitators arranged so that the coffee is impelled forwards and caught up and rained down as the cylinder revolves. The central cylinder works in a steam packet, outside which is a light casing of sheet iron, perforated at one end so that the air may be drawn through by a fan to assist in the drying and carry off the liberated moisture; this machine obviates the necessity for respreading the coffee in the terraces before hulling. Three days’ thorough sunning usually suffices to render the coffee quite dry and brittle, in which condition it is known as “parchment coffee,” in which state, in many countries, it is sent to port, its further curing being left to the shippers, for not only is considerable expenditure in buildings and machinery necessary for the purpose, but the experience gained by manipulating various lots of coffee will enable those who make the subject a special study to bring the sample up to the best standard of appearance and keeping properties, but the coffee retains its color better if allowed to remain for several weeks in the parchment, and its quality continues to improve for months, even years, the process being known as “curing;” as, however, protracted curing causes great subsequent difficulty in removing, the “silver-skin” coffee is never kept in the parchment longer than is compulsory.

HULLING AND PEELING.

This operation consists in the removal of the “parchment” and the “silver-skin,” after which the beans are again exposed to the sun for a period which is difficult to define. Some planters say that they should be dried till they resist pressure of the thumb-nail, but there is really no infallible test, as no two samples are exactly alike. It needs much experience to prevent loss of weight by over-drying, or of color by under-drying, but they peel best while still warm. A variety of hullers have been tried, but preference is commonly given to the old-fashioned edge-runner mill, composed of a circular trough with two large wheels revolving in it and suspended about two inches from the bottom. The trough is one-half to two-thirds filled with beans, which remain until the grinding action of the revolving-wheels has separated their skins, when they are let out by a lateral aperture. A trough fifteen feet in diameter should turn out at least 1,200 pounds of marketable coffee an hour, four bushels of good parchment coffee yielding 100 pounds clean coffee. The appearance of the coffee immediately after hulling is very light colored, but it soon assumes a fern-green hue, which it will retain unless exposed to damp, when it becomes dingy or mottled-gray, and is classed as “country damaged.”

WINNOWING AND SIZING.

The peeled Coffee as it comes from the huller in company with the detached skins is submitted to the influence of a fan whose force must be so adjusted that it will effectually remove the skins without carrying off the Coffee. When the Coffee has been cleaned from the skins, it is necessary to separate it into various sizes for market, chiefly with the object of rendering the subsequent roasting process more equable in effect. Formerly the sizing was performed by hand-picking, but it is now the custom to employ a machine called a “separator,” which consists of an inclined, revolving cylindrical sieve formed of perforated sheet-iron or steel wires, and divided into sections of different meshes. The Coffee is fed in at the hopper, which is furnished with a regulator and an internal worm for the purpose of distributing it equally, while a revolving brush prevents the meshes from being choked. Sand and dust pass through the first section and fall into the space while the small and broken beans are delivered below, the best and largest beans are caught up and the peaberry rolls freely out at the end.

BUILDINGS AND STORES.

Though there is no necessity for curing the Coffee, and it may be hulled at once if desired, the exigencies of climate render a properly constructed warehouse one of greatest _desiderata_. The characteristics of structure must be, first, dryness combined with security; hence, galvanized iron forms the best material. It is generally of two stories, the lower floor being sometimes boarded or asphalted, but the upper must always be so made so as to admit of free circulation of air through the Coffee placed in it. This object may best be obtained by laying wire gauze or coir matting over reapers about one inch apart. Abundant ventilation must also be provided, and it will be necessary to watch for any signs of heating. Immediately on its appearance the Coffee must be turned over rapidly. An improved form of Coffee structure is that built on what is termed the Clerichew principle, in which the floor of the upper story is constructed as in the former case, resting on joists running lengthwise in the building. A ceiling is provided for the lower story by tacking to the joists cloth which has been well soaked in boiled rice water and lime, to render it air-tight. Continuous air-passages are thus made beneath the floor. About ten feet of one end of the lower apartment are partitioned off, and its sides are made as nearly air-tight as possible, and it has no ceiling other than the floor above, so that the passages all open into it. In an opening in the wall of this chamber a pair of large revolving fans are placed, their rapid vibrations drawing a continuous current of air from the inside, and therefore through the Coffee itself. In this manner dried parchment Coffee can be kept in perfect condition without any turning over, and by using heated air on the same principle as before Coffee may be housed while still only partially dry and yet not suffer from fermentation.

PACKING AND SHIPPING.

As soon as the Coffee is sized and graded it is ready for the market. Bags are most commonly used, but it is best packed in air-tight casks, made from wood, which is not likely to taint the Coffee in any way. In shipping Coffee great care is required to prevent its coming in contact with any merchandise that may communicate to it a foreign flavor or odor. Vessels engaged in the Coffee trade should have perforated ventilating tubes from the bottom of the hold, passing through the cargo, so as to allow the escape of all steam and gases generated during transit; without such an appliance the beans will be discolored and classed as “damaged,” an injury which cannot be covered by insurance. In well-ventilated ships Coffee loses about one-half per cent. in weight but gains in quality during transit; while under bad ventilation there will be a gain of one-half per cent. in weight but a loss of color, and consequent depreciation in value.

COST AND PROFIT.

Here a few remarks on the cost, prospects and profits of coffee planting may not be out of place. How much does it require to start on safely is frequently asked. From ten to twenty thousand dollars may be considered a fair capital. As to what kind of a plantation that can be had for these sums is a question that from the shifting nature of prices, and the varieties of climates, soils and situations, cannot be accurately answered, or with even an approximation to accuracy. With regard to the profits of coffee planting the investor may get a very large return, a moderate or a small one, and he may even suffer, as many who have tried it have done, a considerable loss. No reliance whatever can be placed on the estimates so often published, and though many of them may be accurate enough as far as they go, assuming that everything goes well, good soil, climate, cheap labor, good health, and good seasons must be taken into account, in the brilliant reports of the returns to be expected in the first few bearing years, usually terminating with the assertion that “the profits subsequently to be derived will be something fabulous.”

Transport facilities are another important factor and deserving of much consideration. In many countries they exceed the cost of growing and preparing the crops for market, and it frequently occurs in the interior of Brazil, Mexico and other countries, that it does not pay to forward the coffee to the markets at the ports of shipment. But whatever may be the ascertained advantages in point of soil, temperature, moisture and situation, and however bountiful may be the yield of the plants, the speculation must always be estimated in connection with the cost and vicissitudes with which coffee planting as a business is unhappily associated. Anxiety must be inseparable from an undertaking exclusively dependent on native labor, and liable to be affected at the most critical moment by its capricious commercial fluctuations. The crops in most of the coffee-growing countries, when saved on the plantation, has either to encounter the risk incident to transportation by hand through mountain districts as yet unopened by roads, or the chances of deterioration to which it is exposed in bullock carts during long journeys to the coast. The real facts being that the difficulties in the way of forming accurate agricultural statistics are in the coffee-producing countries almost insuperable, there being either a tendency to exaggerate or depreciate the yield, as it best serves the interests of the cultivators. And again as regards coffee in particular, there is no means whatever of estimating the product. A great deal being said, but very little known in the way a man generally requires to know that he may wish to publish as reasonably near the truth. So in going into coffee planting in any country it signifies little whether you know what certain plantations _have_ yielded or what amount of profits _may_ be expected. One fact may be relied on, however, that is, if an estate frequently changes hands, it is certainly a bad or indifferent one, if seldom it is sure the coffee growing pays well, and further it is not necessary to inquire, for hardly any landed investment pays so well as good sound coffee property, and the owners are therefore seldom inclined to part with it.

The extent of coffee plantations varies from 100 to 300 acres, the annual product ranging from 500 to 1,000 pounds per acre of prepared coffee, according to location and care bestowed on the plantation. The profits also vary with the ruling market price of the coffee at time of sale, of labor, transportation and the inscrutable effects of the season. But a cost of from $350 to $500 per 100 pounds may be considered a fair average; any yield under 300 per acre scarcely paying expenses, any over 700 paying a handsome profit.