Mississippi Democrat. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1844-18??, 1845-01-08
A tsrEIIanp.
A COFFEE PLANTATION.

TOf the thousands of our readers who
make daily use of coffee as a beverage,
we presume there are comparatively few
who are acquainted in detail with the his
tory and culture of the berry to which
they are indebted for one of their greatest
luxuries. To those who are not, the fol-
lowing extract from a book lately pub
lished by a physician of South Carolina
who spent three winters in Cuba, will be
read with interest.
"The coffee-tree merits special notice.
Passing from Ethiopia through Persia TO
Arabia, it reached the West Indies through
Europe. Van Horn, in 1890, then GO
vernon of Batavia, having raised it in Java
from seeds procured in Mocha, sent one
plant to Nicholas Witsen, a burgomaster in
Amsterdam, who placing it in the botanl-
cal garden of that city, other plants were
propagated from its seeds, and were sent
TO the West Indies. In IT'S, coffee plan
tdtions were first made in Surinam, and
about 1928 by the French in Martinico,
at which time 1t was also introduced into
Jamaica. When the French were driven
from St. Domingo, they brought with them
into Cuba the cultivation of this plant, and
estates from that period multiplied rapidly
on that island.
.'The tree, if left TO nature, at.ains a
height of twelve or eighteen feet in the
nurseries, and gives off horizontal branch
es knotted at every joint, which like the
trunk are covered with grey bark. The
blossoms look like the white jasmine, and
form thick, circular clusters aronnd the
branches; they appear from December to
June, and last only two or three days. The
berries at first are green, but as they In
crease in size and ripen become white
then yellow, and finally bright red, closely
resembling the cherry in size and appear
ance. The trees are often loaded witt
them in closely-wedged circles arounc
each joint of the branches; | have counted
as many as ninety cherries on single
one, two feet long. Each cherry contains
two berries applied with their fiat sides to
gether, having sweet, soft, mucilaginou'
pulp between them and the pellicle.
"The nursery is made by cleanin!
away the underground of wood, leaving
the high trees to protect the young plant
by their shade. The cherries are her
sown, and the young plants, when from
one to four years old, are transplanted t
the squares about six feet apart, eacl
square containing 10000 trees. The.
are cut off about two inches from tn
ground, from which point a new shoe
springs and forms the future tree, tina
bears the third year. They are then KEEP
pruned to the height of five feet, and ar
yearly trimmed of all :heir dead branches
AMID the shrubs, rows of plantains ar
formed eighteen feet apart, and corn free
~ sown wherever the foliage permits th
suns rays TO reach the ground; so thai
.naee square produces also crop Of thes
'"e valuable breadstuffs.
me cherries ripen from August
,p e'ee.Aoer, and are all gathered singly b
uie han0; and as three or four differer
crops are often ripening at the same tin
Oh each tlee, as many separate picking
are required Brought in baskets fro
the fields, they are daily exposed to the 81
on the secaderos, but are each niob, rake
together in heaps, and covered hv tents
rice straw to protect them from the hea,
dews; after three weeks thew becon
quite dried and are then fit for the mill
The secaderos often cover large snrfa,
Of the batey or yard, an estate Of 4O(
900 trees having 25, each so feet long a.
80 feet wide. They are made of ston
piastered smoothly over with cement, "