The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-12-17
A Coffee Field In Brazil.

From very full account of the Bra
lillian coffee industry in Scri6ner, we
take this description of the field-work,
written from personal observation by
Herbert II. Smith:
In southern Brazil, a cofee-feld sell
dom lasts more than thirty years. The
plantations are made on the fertile hill
sides, where the forest has been growing
thick and strong. But the soil here is
never deep-six or eight inches of mold
at the utmost. In the tropics there are
no long winters with mats Of dead vege-
table matter rotting under the snow.
The leaves fall singly, and dry up till
they break into dust; logs and decaying
branches in the shady woods are carried
away by white ants and beetles; hence
the mold bed increases very slowly; in
twenty-five or thirty years, the strong
growing coffee-trees eat it all up. Most
planters simply cut down the forest and
leave the trees to dry in the sun for six
or eight weeka when they are burned.
s., more provident, lets the logs rot
where they lie, which they do in a 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 yard
or small fields, four acres, perhaps, to
gather. The 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 cofee-plant:
The ground forms a gentle slope. and
water is constantly running over it, so
that it is always soaked: The pots,
through orifces 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 costly system. Most Of the
planters take shoots at random from the
old fields and set them at once into un-
prepared ground. Sr. SIS expert
ment has cost him probably 800, 900; the
pots alone cost $1,000. But he will
make at least $50,000 by the operation.
In the first place, he gains a good year
in the start that he gives to these young
plants. Then they are not put b LEX in
the transplanting; the pots are simply
inverted and the roots come out with
the earth. They are set into nold or
compost which has been prepared in
deep holes. The tender rootlets catch
hold of this at once, and in a day or two
the plant is growing as well as ever.
The nurslings come from select seeds
of kalf a dozen varieties. Sr. s. has
them planted at first in small pots. A
dozen slaves are engaged transplanting
the six-inch high shoots to larger pots.
Little tired-looking children carry them
about on their shoulders, working on as
steadily rs the old ones, for they ale
we'll trained. Sr. s. wants to make
his plants last fifty years, SO he is care
full and tender with them. The little
blacks will be free in 1892, so bis policy
is to get as much work as possible 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 waits for his
harvest. After four years the trees are
six feet high and begin to bear. By the
slhGu SciiI tllC OlOPS ohS wy Ahh
three or even four pounds per tree at
times. Meanwhile corn and mandioca
are planted between the rows. Often in
q new plantation the expenses are nearly
covered by these subsidiary crops.
In this month OF November only a
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, men, women
and children are gathering the berries in
baskets, working silently and steadily
under the overseer's eye. Each day.
each slave gathers on the average berries
enough to produce fifty pounds of dried
coffee. The pickings are collected in
carts and brought to the mill-house,
where the seeds must be prepared tor
the market.