Morning journal and courier., 1888-06-09
BIG PROFITS,

Of the extraordinary profits of coffee culture there can be no question. Under the slavery regime of Cuba it cost no more than two cents per pound to produce it ready for the market. Under the most expensive system of free labor, tor instance by the American system of farm labor-and I con- fidently assert that white as we'll as black men could labor with no danger to health in this rare climate, tempered as it always is by cooling breezes by day from the sea and gen. tie land-winds by night-its cost of produc- ton could not be greater than five cents in gold per pound. Five cents per pound more will deliver it free in the best markets of the world. It will always bring at first hands from eighteen to twenty cents per pound. Your average plantation of one hundred thousand trees in period of twenty years, accounting for all poor crops, will average at the lowest an annual yield of one and one- half pounds per tree. This estimate is far below ordinary results and gives an annual profit of twelve thousand dollars in gold.
 | Nothing can be more beautiful and inter- estirg than studies of the annual blooming, budding, growth and ripening of coffee, and l it's gathering and preparation for the mar l ket. The leaves, which ovate in form, ! are about four inches loug. They set oppo- | site each other in pairs and are dark green in ! color. Similar in texture to the maMmee | leaf, they have the waxen surface of the h. | dian laurel The foliage is perennial I Shooting out from the bases of these pairs I of leaves, after the manner of our cherry { blooms, are seen the coffee blossoms, almost precisely like diminutive tuberose, in clus- ! ters of three to six, snow-white and with an ! indescribably delicate, subtle and delicious odor For two months in spring-time cof fee plantation is simply one vast plain of white, 8 region of Intoxicating odor, with ] the blue sky half shut from sight by myriads of honey seeking butterflies. humming birds and brilliant winged songsters futterirg and circling in an apparent ecstasy of revelry and delight. For nearly six months new blossoms come as the old ones disappear. Blossom and ripening berries continuous. l As the bIeezes snow the dying blossoms upon the ground tiny green buttons take their place. These are the growing fruit. They change to pale pink; then to a bright cher ry; finally to reddish purple. Then it is ripe and ready for gathering. In Arabia where the climate permits the ripening and drying of the berries upon the tree, it is gathered by shaking the berries upon blan- kets laid beneath. Here it is picked in bas- kets, piled at convenient places, and drawn l in carts to the quarters and at once put in great estanques or tanks of cement. At this stage it is called cereza or s'cherry," and is given "three waters," that is stirred thor oughly in three changes of fresh water, l which removes the saccharine and floats into other tanks refuse and worthless berries. It is then spread upon secaderos or drying plSC6S. 4u6S6 uab plAG1OEms Ol coMoAt and charcoal, into the basin-like circular DOT ! tion of which the drying coffee is drawn at three o'clock each afternoon in piles, and covered for protection from night dsws with casillas or mauaca palm-leaf coops. This process is continued almost three weeks, or l until the coffee is ''proven," that is dry i enough to permit removal of the second skin, l or the real shell of the berry, when it is 1 called pergamo. It is now taken to the ware l house and stored for 8 time to "gain color" [" | and then to the moline or mill where it is
 run through heavy wooden rollers. This 1 breaks the brittle shell and separates the l twin berries. Then an aventador or huge l winnowing machine removes from the mass of grayish-yeflow seeds the chaff collected at the moline. It is now said to be in "oro, J or in it's golden state from it's color; and is now taken back to the mill, through which it is run with dry corn-husks for friction and polish. It is again winnoWed, and is then piled upon porch-foors, or in any conven-
 ient receptacles, and "culled," the broken
 I and small dark beans being removed, this
 residue, which is supplied to the negro la'
 borers for coffee, being called trirache
 There is but one more process. The single
 or raw ';male" berry is extraordinarily
 prized and commands the highest prize. The
 coffee is separated by being shunted down
 inclining board frames from which the round
 berries, or cafe de caracollio, rolls to station
 ary benches, while the double or flat beans
 I remain. After this rapid assortment it is
 weighed i'll hundred-pound sacks or quin.
 tals, and is ready for the market at Trini
 dad, to which picturesque old city every
 pound is conveyed on the backs of donkeys
 and mules. EDGAR l.. WAKEMAN.