Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-02-01
A CONee-Fie!d in Brazil.

A COfIee-Field in Brazil.
In Southern Brazil, u 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 and strong. But the soil
there is never deep-six or eight inches
of mold at the utmost. In the tropics
there are no long winters, with mats Of
dead vegetable matter rotting under the
snow. The leaves fall singly, and dry
up until 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 weeks,
when they are burned. s., more
provident, let's the logs rot where they
lie, which they do in year or two; in
the open sunlight they are saved from
insects, and the ground receives large
accession to its strength.
Back of the house there are two yards
or small fields, four acres, perhaps, to-
gether. The ground is covered with
earthen pots set close together, only
leaving little pathways at intervals.
Each of the 100000 pots contains a
thriving young cofee-plant. The ground
forms gentle slope, and water is con-
stantly running over il, so that it is all
ways 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 a costly system. Most of the
planters take root shoots at random
from the old fields and set them at
once into the unprepared ground. ST..
SIS experiment. has cost him prob
ably $4,000; the pots alone cost 81 900.
But he will make at east$50,000 by the
operation. In the first place, he gains
o good year in the start that he gives to
these young plants. Then they are not
put back in the transplanting; the pots
are simply inverted and the roots come
out with the earth. They are set into
mold Or compost which has been pre-
pared in deep holes. The tender root
lets catch hold of this at once, and in a
day or two the plant is growing as well
as ever.
The nurslings come from selected
seeds of half dozen varieties. Sr.
s. has them planted at first in small
pots, A dozen slaves are engaged trans
lantingthe six-inch highshoots to larger
pots. Little tired-looking children car
~ them about on their shoulders, work.
ing on as steadily as 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 free in 1892, so his
policy is to get as much work as posi-
bic from them while he can.
The plants are set in rows, about ten
feet apart. They grow, and thrive, and
arehappy out on the hillside. Warm SUM-
shine caresses the leaves; 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
sixth year, the crops are very large
three or even four pounds per tree at
times. Meanwhile, corn and mandioca
are planted between the rows. Often
in a new plantation the expenses are
nearly covered by these subsidiary crops.
-Scribner's.