The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-06-02
A Coffee Plantation In Mexico.

About a mile from CORDOBA, says
traveller in Mexico, we found at the
junction of a lane an enthusiastic Ger
man botanist, who lives in Cordoba
partly because he owns coffee plantation
there, and partly from his tanatical love
of botanical pursuits. We had been
consigned to his care, and the old gentle
man seemed delighted to see some one
from the civilized world. \ fter q rather
tiring walk through muddy lane, we
turned sharp to the left and found our.
selves in the middle of well-kept cof'
fee plantation. The introduction oi
coffee into this region IS ofcomparatively
recent date, but already the production
is very great, and large quantities are
exported. In Ceylon and other coun-
tries where the staple product is coffee,
the plants are grown on the hlllsldes
without any shade. But at Cordoba
the soil is not rich enough to produce
coffee unless it is grown under shade.
The coffee plant is an evergreen, and
will, if lett unpruned. grow to the
height of thirty feet. The leaves are
oblong in shape, and of dark, shining
green. They grow in pairs, one at
either side of the branch, and the
flowers grow at the junction of the leaf
stalks. These blossoms are of beauti-
full snow white, and although the tree
generally blossoms only twice in the
year, yet there are few times when the
snowfakes are not seen among the dark
green leaves. The plants are kept down
by constant pruning to about five or six
feet, and constant attention has to be
given to keeping the soil clear:of weeds
The berry, when ripe, is OF purphsh
red. about the size OF cherry. Each
berry contains two seeds with the flat
sides toward each other, and the re-
mainder of the berry is a soft pulp, very
sweet and pleasant to the taste. Our
botanical friend had number of small
nurseries in which he was raising the
Young plant; they are planted out when
about year old, and begin to produce
at three years, but not in perfection un-
til the fifth year. In many countries it
is usual to allow the berries to become
thoroughly ripe, and then to shake
them off the trees on to cloths spread
below. But in Mexico the berries are
picked by hand, and then spread out to
dry in heaps about three inches deep.
In Mexico the great difficulty in the
way of coffee growing is the poverty of
the soil and the want of manure. l
suggested to our friend that he should
keep four or five hundred cows, as is
done in Ceylon, for the purpose of pro-
curing manure, but he said that they
would be certainly stolen; and when |
remarked that it would be very easy to
watch the place and shoot any maraud-
ers, he laughed and said: "Oh, you
don't know our Mexican government.
If I were to do such thing l should be
thrown into dungeon for the rest Of
my days. Why, it was only a few
months ago that a half-drunken Mexi-
can made q bet that he could lasso a
train, and when he saw one passing at
full speed he rode at it. He succeeded in
lassoing the buffer of the engine, and
of course was dashed to pieces. They
arrested the engineer, who was an
American, and locked him up on q
charge of murder, and it was with the
greatest difficulty that he was saved by
the interference of the consuls. Oh, no !;
there is no chance for foreigner here!'
In the absence of any possibility of
manuring the soil the only thing posi-
BILE is to give the coffee lots of shade.
This is usually done by planting banana
trees, but our botanical friend is doing
better by planting Manila mangoes and
the qui,aa, whose bark gives the quinine,
the great medicine of modern days.