The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-12-18
a CoGec.Fleld In Brazil.
l7rom q very full account of the


lillian Coffee Industry in iScyibner fo-
December, we take this description of
| the fieid-work, written from personal OBJ
servation by Herbert II. Smith:
In Southern Brazil, coffee field sell
dom lasts more than thirty years. The
plantations are made on the fertile hill.
sides, where the forest has been grow.
ing thick aud strong. But the soil here
is never deep-six or eight inches of
mold at che utmost. In the tropics there
are no long winters with mats of dead
vegetable matter rotsirE under tho snow.
Tho leaves fall singly, Fhd dry up until
they break into dust; logs aud decaying
branches in the shady woods are carried
away by white ants and beetles hence
the mold bed increases yery.slowly; in
twenty-five or thirty years, the Btrong-
growing cofee-trees eat it oil up. Most
planters simply cut down the forest and
leave the trees to dry in the sun for six
or eight weeks, when they are burned.
S., more proyident, lets the logs rot
whec" Icy lie, which they do in year
or two; In the open sunlight they are
saved from insects and the ground re-.
ceives large accession to its strength.
Back of the house there are two yards
OF small fields, four acres, perhaps, to.
gether. Tho ground is covered with
earthen pots set close together, only
leaving little pathways at intervals.
Each of the two hundred thousand pots
contains thriving young coffee. plant.
The ground forms gentle slope, and
water. is constantly running over it, 80
that it Is always soaked. The pots,
through .orifices at the bottoms, draw
up enough of this water to keep the
roots moistened. The young plants are
protected from the sun by mat screens
stretched on poles above the ground.
This is q costly system. Most Of the
planters take root shoots at random
from the old fields and set them at once,
into unprepared ground. Sr. SIS
experiment has cost him probably $780,
600; the pots alone cnat $1,000 But
he will make nt least $50, 900 by the op-
Grafton. In the first place, he gains a
good year In the start that he gives 60
these young plants. Then they are not
put back ia the transplanting; the pots
are simply inverted and the roots come
out with the earth. They are set into
mold or ces.. pest .gh:ch has been pre.
pared in deep holes. The tender root.
lets catch hold of this at once, and in q
day or two the plant is growing as we'll
as ever.
The nurslings come from selected
seed of half dozen varieties. Sr. s.
has them planted at first in small pots,
a dozen slaves are engaged transplant
ing the six-inch high shoots to lager
pots. Little tired-looking children car.
ry. them about on their shoulders, work.
ing on as steadily rs the old ones, for
they are well trained. Sr. S-wants
to make his plants last fifty years, SO he
Is careful and tender with them. The
little blacks will be zee in 1892, SO his
policy is to get as much work as posi-
BILE from them while he can.
The plants are set in rows, about ten
feet apart. They grow, and thrive, and
are happy, out on the hillside. Warm
sunshine caresses the leaves: generous
rains feed the tender roots; the ground,
is kept free from intruding weeds and
bushes, and the planter wits for his
harvest. After four years, .ie trees are
six feet high and begin to heaT. BY the
sixth year, the crops are very large
three or even four pounds per tree at
times. Meanwhile, corn and mandicca
are planted between the rows. Often in
q new plantation the expenses are near
iy covered by these subsidiary crops.
In this month of November only few
Of the slaves are in the new fields
November is the principal gathering
month, and almost the whole force must
be at work in the bearing orchards.
From sunrise to sunset, women and chill
dsen ere gathering tha berries in baskets.
working silently and steadily under the
overseer's oye. Every day each slave
gathers of the average berries enough to
produce fifty pounds of dried coffee.
The pickings sre collected in carts and
brought to the mill house, where the
seeds must be prepared for the market.