The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-08-02

NolhS thOM BRAZlL-THE COFFEE TRADE.
Fifty years have elapsed since the first cargo Of
coffee was shipped from Rio de Janeiro. and now
Brazil supplies two-thirds of the coffee ofthe world
Although the agricultural capacities of this prov.
lnce are very great and Weld sugar. cotton tobac.
co and Indian corn, still the great STAPLE and arti
Gle OF export from the Empire of Brazil is coffee
Inc cohee-growing districts of Brazil are divided
into the Sierra Abaixo, Tor below the mountains J
and Sierra Acima, (abOve the mountains but eve
ry year 1t is more widely cultivated and conside-
Taoie quantity is now grown further northward.-
The produce of the Sierra Abaixo is about one-sixth
part of the whole crop in good wears, bnt is much
more uncertain than the Sierra Aetna, being
more liable to injury from drought which is
sara OF late years to have been frequent. The
quality is also inferior, and seldom Skinned to the
United States. The trees usually flower three
times each year. generally. in August, September
and october, and are ready for ricking in favora-
Die seasons, in March, April and May, varying ac-
cordIng to situation. In April small Quantities of
poor new coffee appear in market In Nav and
June the quantity is greater, but never abundant
until July and August. The trees of Sierra Acima
bloom later, but the crop is more uniform enabling
Is great saving of labor. Entire carpoes are not
generally obtained from Sierra Acma district 1ntiI
August and September.
Usually, the supplies remaining over of the old
crop are hrst sent to the market before planters
clean out the new, and hence it is often as late
october and November before the bulk of the new
crop Is in market. The cost of TRANSPORTING the
coffee to market is said to average the planter
ABOUT TWO cents per pound, owing to imperfect IA
cltles The actual cost of production is said to be
not much under four and a half cents per pound,
and as negroes are decimated by cholera and other
diseases, they must advance in value and naturally
enhance the cost of production Coffee is planted
py ourylng the seeds or berries, (Which are double }
or by slips The trees placed six or einht feet
apart, and those plants which have been taken from
the nursery with balls of mould about their roots
VIII Dear rult In two years. those detached from the
earth will not produce until the third year, and the
majority OF such shrubs die. In the Province of
San Paulo, and the richest portions of MinasGe Geraes
one thousand trees have yielded 6,4OO pounds; but
this is extraordinary.
In the province Of Rio de Janeiro, trees are gen
eraliy cut down every fifteen years. As a general
rule, they are not allowed to exceed twelve feet in
height, so as to be in reach. When the berry is
ripe, it is about the size and color of cherry and
resembles 1t, or large cranberry. Of these Der.
rles negro can daily collect about thirty two
pounds. There are three gatherings in the year
and the berries are spread out upon payements, or
a level portion OF the ground, the te,TenoD from
whence they are taken when dry, denuded of the
null by machinery, and afterwards conveyed to
market: Nothing is more beautiful than a coffee
plantation in full and virgin bloom. The snowy
blossoms all burst forth simultaneously and the eX
tended fields seem almost in night to Law aside
their robe ct verdure, and to replace BY the most
delicate mantel of white, which exhales a fragrance
not unworthy of the description of Eden But the
beauty is truly ephemeral, for the snOw-whitc
flowers and the delicate odOr pass away in twenty
four hours. [See Brazil and the Brazilians bv
kidder 4 Fletcher.
1t takes four TO i've years to mature coffee trees
after planting them, before they will Weld n crnn nf
berries; hence the sudden rise or fall in prices can
not so suddenly influence production as is the case
with annual crops from new plantations of sugar
and cotton. At the present time owinm to III =
high price of slaves, no new estates can be formed
and none have been for several years. and il is stat
ed that there not hands enough left in the conn
try to pick ont full crop. There are some curious
facts regarding the preservation of coffee II i.
said that the berries readily imbbe exhalations
from other substances and occasionally acquire an
unpleasant flavor. Sugar placed near the berries
1t Is said, in short time impregnates them and in
lures their flavor.
A few bags of pepper on board n shin bound from
India to England, spoiled n whole cargo of coffee
and cargo shipped some time ago by &essrs Max.
well, Wright & Co., of this port, was completely
previously carried creosote
The process OF roasting berries requires care anC
skill. If burnt, the coffee is spoiled impartng :
BAD taste and making it heavy and indigestiblc
when drank. Again, if underdone, the water fails
to extract the nourishng material of the coffee and
its infusion is so weak to prove unpaIatable In
all Cairo, in Egypt, there was said to be but one
good coffee parcher
The berries should be roasted until they become
OF uniform brown chestnut color No family
should ever purchase ready-ground coffee which
Is liable to adulteration with chckorv beans corn
rye, &C., &c. The berries should be bought green,
and parched and ground at home as wanted The
article which has been most largely used for the
aduieratiOn of coffee is the chickOry-roO which s
a native Of England, Germany and most parts of
Europe, and naturaliZed in the United States 1t
has tap root like carrots, and is cultivated some
thing in the same manner, chiefly in Holland, Rel
GUM and other parts of Germany where labor IA
cheap. Females aud children are largely employed
in its production.
The roots, on being dug up, are sliced and kiln
apd daft yarly Il 4
bears strong resemblance to coffee, and mixed
with enough of the latter to flavor it, the deception
becomes quite successful. The only resemblance il
bears to coffee is in its color, and the only
mendation it has is its cheapness. 1t is slightly
tonic, but contains no nOurshment, and only salts
hes the appetite of distention when drank
From Germany this article is extensively i'm
ported to other countries, and particularly to
England and the United States. Its consumption,
through dduteratiOn with coffee in the ITnitad
States, especially since the advance in the price of
coffee, has greatly increased. 1t is said that sin
gle German house in New York has imported in a
single year 500 900 pounds, and the present annual
importation into New York is not less than ono 200
pounds. Strange to say, notwithstanding these
facts, not even the name of chckoly appears amonr
the imports of the United States In the official
reports of the imports of the United States ar
ranged under the head of commerce and nayipation
It's name is nowhere to be met with. How is this =?
Is 1t Imported in another name or is it smuggIed
How lar 1T can answer as a healthy substitute for
coffee, may be gathered from learning the chemical
composition of the two Wood and Bache call it
chlcory or succory, or the wild endive or chicorsDt
Ihtytene OF Linn9us. 1t sends up stalk of one to
three feet high, which, under cultivation rises to
five or six feet, and sends down a carrot-like tap
root, which yields a milky juice. Before being
adapted for the adulteratiOn of coffee it was used
as medicinal milk tonic, and was thought
to be good as a mild purge and in iaundice
affections. But whatever weak mechanical pro.
PeFtIe' it may possess are probably destroyed
htr ur1Cf ffnrs nK,I
trary, Is found on chemical analysis to contain
highly nutritious element, known as caffeiu This
component part of all good coffee is found to con-
tam larger portion of nitrogen than anv other
vegetable principle, and in this respect equaling
some of the most highly analized products Caf-
lein does not purify, however, like animal matter
Thus, chemists have discovered by ANALYSIS that
coffee contains an element of nourishment similar
to animal matter or to meat which renders it nu-
tritious drink, and of which chicOrv is wholly
destitute; and hence its useless and Injurious char
acter a substitute for coffee
While good Rio coffee sells at 10 to II cents and
Java at 10 cents, chicOry roasted and ground sell
at and cents, and in its green and dried state
sells at and cents pound. Hence the induce
ment for the perpetration of fraud on such an i'm
mense scale. Good coffee well roasted makes
refreshing and wholesome beverage for infrm and
weak people, and for children. How cruel. then.
is the practice OF selling them parched root pos
sesslng no one property in common with coffee and
not only destitute OF all nOurishment but positively
injurious if long used Its wholesale use has prob
ably, in large cities. contributed to the mortality of
the people, and especially of children and aged peo-
pie, besides aggravating the symptoms of dyspepsia
and nervous complaints.
The question of labor in the cultivation of coffee
and all other tropical productions which have he
come commercial necessities to the populations of
the temperate northern ATTITUDES, which embrace
the largest civilized portions of the human race is
becoming one OF very great Importance The grow
ing dehcency must not only continue, but in time
greatly enhance the prices of these products which
nave become necessaries of life and tend to drain
the money from Northern nations in order to Sc
cure them,-or, in other words, places them under
heaVy trlpute Tor articles which are, from habit,
necessary to heir comfort and well-beng.
England, through her East India possessions, is
no doubt, anxious to secure as large share of this
tribute possible, and may, to a certain extent
succeed with sugar. indigo, and coffee; but she has
failed and will continue to fail in the produc
tion of cotton. The United States have secured
this Indispensable production to her prosperity as
well as the prosperity of Europe in general The
value of slaves in Brazil-the only South American
State which has made any great progress and that
through African labor-has, for several wears,
steadily increased.
Prior to 1880, when the Slave-trade was local
slaves were sold at l20 milres or S56. From iS30
to 1850, when the trade was under treaties with
England, prohibited and had to be conducted clan
destnely, they advanced to 400 milreis of S22O
Since 1850, the trade having been almost entirely
suppressed, they have gradually advanced aided
by the defamation of per cent. per annum to 100
milreS or $605, in 1858; hence, then ten per cent
1t is estimated, have died from cholera as appears
by recent statement of the Minister of the Em
pire, and they are now stated to be worth mn
mllrels, or 81 900 each. 1t was the low nrice of
slaves prior to 1880, which stimulated the nrodno
tion OF coffee, and caused prices to rule so low
Whch Were IN 1855 to 1910, not much over half the