The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-09-25
Coffee Plantation.

COffee PlantaC1On.
There is no more beautiful sight than a
coffee plantation, with its shrubs Of rich,
dark green, bearing white, fragrant bios
SONS, and bright crimson berries; and the
visitor to Guatemala, whether specially in
terested or not, will be sure to visit one
after another of these fine estates. They
usually cover many acres, have good build
ings, fine avenues of trees, and large gar
dens nicely laid out, containing beautiful
and often rare plants and shrubs. The
owners are generally wealthy men, either
Spaniards or Germans, and receive visitors
with the greatest pleasure and cordiality,
showing them all about the estates, and
sending them away loaded with flowers.
The plantations cover acres of ground and
the land is perfectly cultivated-not weed
or spear of grass is allowed. The coffee
plants are set out at equal distances, and
in rows on perfect line; all of them are
of uniform size and height, and the tops
look as perfect as if they had been trimmed
with the greatest care, The average crop
of plantation is about one thousand to
fifteen hundred quintals annually. One
plantation rear the port of Champerico
exports fifteen thousand bags and has three
hundred and eighty thousand trees.
The coffee plant is shrub growing %
height of twelve to fifteen feet in its wild
state, but under cultivation is kept down to
six or eight feet. The shrub has single
stem, opening out at the top into long,
dense, dropping branches, which fall to the
ground, making an unusually beautiful
looking plant, The leaves are long and
pointed and of a dark, rich, glossy green.
The flowers come out from the angle of the
leaf in groups of from four to twelve, and
are small, white and fragrant, resembling
the iessamine The fruit succeeds the
blossom, and very much resembles cram
berry in color, form and size. When ripe
the berries are of dark, crimson color, and
consist of pulpy mass containing two
oval Seeds which are convex on one side
and fiat on the other, and lie together face
to face, separated only by thin akin or
parchment. Sometimes only one seed forms,
and in process of growth as it pushes itself
against the dividing membrane and encoun-
ters no opposing growth, it naturally rounds
over and makes the small, round bean
known as pea-berry. To secure the proper
growth of the coffee plenty Of shade is re-
quired. To reach this result on some
plantations the plants are set cut several
feet apart, and between them are planted
shade trees which grow to great height,
with the foliage on the very top. On
other plantations banana trees are planted
in like manner and for the same purpose.
When these rules are not followed the eof-
fee plants are placed very close together,
and when full grown the tops meet, making
solid body of dark foliage, shutting out
every ray Of sun from the ground. The
conditions for the cultivation of coffee in
Guatemala are very unlike many other
coffee growing countries; very large part
of the coffee grown in Guatemala is on ta-
ble-lands or high plains, on an elevation of
four thousand feet or more, and the yarie-
ties of soil are very marked, varying from
deep, rich black loan to red clay or
sandy soil; all of which are sometimes to
be found in one or two miles; consequently,
in order to purchase Guatemala coffee, and
get a high standard and uniform quality,
every condition of growth must be known
to the buyer. These conditions are, the
proper elevation, location, the particular
kind of soil, the planters manner of culti-
walton, facilities for curing and proper ma
chinery. One single condition left out of
the many is almost sure to produce coffee
that will be below the standard Of fine
drinking coffee. Most of the planters are
rich and have complete machinery. Large
planters have the latest improved machine
ry, usually with steam power The works
are quite extensive, and always located as
near as possible in the centre of plantation.
IF running stream of water can be OBJ
tanned in such location, it is of great bene-
fit, for plenty of water saves labor and
makes more "stylish" coffee.
The berries are picked and carried 20
the factory, where they are run through
pulping machine, stream of water passing
through the hopper with the berries. The
machine breaks the pulp, separates the
berry, and the pulp is carried off and spread
around the trees for dressing. The coffee
berry runs off in a spout into reservoir,
which has a eemented bottom enclosed by
masonry cemented wall about two feet
high, making it water tight; water is run
through with the coffee bean when it is
washed; the water is then drawn off, and
the coffee then remaining is dried in the
sun; it is then put through machine
which breaks the skin, winnows it, and
makes it perfectly clean from chaff and
dirt; the coffee is next all hand-picked and
graded, making some four qualities; then
it is bagged, and when sold transported to
railroad or shipping port by carts or on
the backs of Indians. The labor is done
by Indians, the men working the land, the
women and girls doing all the work at the
mills, and picking the berries. In parts
of the country where there is little coffee
culture the berry is pulped by the women
by hand. The coffee is then dried and
sold Gin parchment" that is, after it is
pulped and dried, the berry remains en-
cased in thin, membraneous skin, then
it is transported to some town where there
is factory, where it is perfected for mark