Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1892-08-25
EXPORTING COFFEE.
I1E touFNEv FCon TnE BRAZILIAN
ORCHARD TO T41 ocEkN.

Sieam:ng-Gow the Ferry A. Secured.
Cofse is rot { shrub, as Is Ceaera,i,
I supposed, but a tree, which. if alloEe,
! 20 go untrimmed. would attain twent-
feet or more in height, but which is gen
orally kept down TO eight OF ten feet 70
convenience in picking. a grove cal
be started by burying the berries o
from slips. The latter are preferabl,
/ placed about six feet apart, and thos
/ plants which have been taken from tn
nursery with considerable earth AROUND
{ their roots will bear fruit in two years
| though their full yield is not attained
under four years. 1t is calculated tha
/ 1000 thrifty trees will yield on a fai1
average 5000 pounds of coffee per an
mum, but in some parts of San Paulc
province the yield is as high as 6,5Oj
/ pounds. There are two and sometime.
three harvests to a year, but after ffteeI
or twenty years the old trees must b,
cut down to give place to new ones.
When fully ripe the berry is about th'
size, shape and color of a large Gran
berry. The tough red skin incloses two
grains or seeds. The old way of preplr
! ing it for market, still much used il
Brazil, was as follows: When the berrie:
have acquired rich blood red they arr
picked into bags by the negroes, twenty
three pounds being considered a fail
days work for one picker. The bag:
are then e.1ptied on the terreno or dry.
ing place, which is generally a l1ve
piece of ground beaten smooth or GOV.
cred with cement. After few days il
the sun the outer skin becomes black
hard and shriveled, and then the berrie:
are pounded in huge wooden mortars
until the skins are broken without in.
juring the tough grains.
By sitting, the skins and grains are
separated and the latter are again spread
out in the sun until the pellicle envelop-
ing each grain is dry as dust. Then
they are again subjected to the mortars
and the winnowing fan, and are ready
for sale or immediate consumption.
The improved method now in vogue on
the wealthier estates consists in drying
the freshly picked grains on wooden
trays or pavements, by which they
escape the earthly flavor acquired when
dried ON the bare ground, and the outer
and inner envelopes are removed by
passing them through two mills
The main feature of the first mill is a
horizontal copper cylinder, whose sur
face is roughened after the manner of d
rasp. 1t revolves against a board, be-
tween which and the teeth space is left
for the grains to pass. but not the husks.
The grains drop into water and are left
TO soak twelve hours, in which time the
parchmentlike film that envelops each
seed is softened. They are spread out
again on trays in the sun, and when
thoroughly dry are passed through the
second mill, which resembles those used
for grinding plaster, except that the
two vertical rolling disks are of wood.
six feet in diameter and five inches
thick, their light weight abrading the
pellicles without injuring the grains
Then the tanner is brought into requisi-
ton and the berries are put in bags for
transportation.
The freight on a sack of coffee Q3S
pounds) is about one cent per mile:
therefore, coffee coming from the end
of the Dom Pedro II railway must pay
in the neighborhood of four dollars the
sack for transportation to the shipping
point-one-third of its value when de-
livered in Rio. From Rio to New York
the freight rarely exceeds sixty cents a
sack, and it is often as low as twenty
five cents. Thus fifty miles of railroad
carriage in the country where it grows
costs more than $500 miles of ocean.
Many of the planters still send their
coffee to market by mule train, consid-
ering that the cheaper way of transpor-
tation.
The entrance into Santos of a mule
train from the interior is something
worth seeing. The train is always pre-
ceded by white horse wearing string
of bells, and the mules obediently follow
the leader. Sometimes troops of several
hundred arrive in a morning, and ag in
there are weeks when none appear.
Every mule brings two bags of coffee on
his back. Having made long, slovAjour-
neys, often hundreds of miles, the ami
mails are pitiable looking objects when
their burdens are removed, for the con-
slant saving of the loads has not only
abraded the skin, but in many instances
ground off the flesh to the bone.
The bags are dumped in huge piles in
the custom house yards, and around
them cargadores Immediately collect
like swarms of black bees. There is an
export duty to pay, and every bag must
be pierced and a sample withdrawn in
order to determine the quality and the
duty thereon. The tariff, based ON the
market price, is regulated anew every
Saturday.
The sampling instrument is brass
tube, shaped exactly like pen. When
the point is pushed into sack of coffee
the berries run down through the tube,
and after handful has been distracted
The instrument is withdrawn and its
point turned over like crochet hook.
thus closing the opening. The operation
occupies only few seconds, and the
SdluplcS bdhcu OuI dHlOuub W llldllN
tons in the course of a year. They, to-
gether with all samples of exported sug-
ars, are presented to the lepers' hospital.
The gangs of cargadores employed III
''toting" the coffee away from the Gus
tom house and loading it upon waiting
vessels are feature of Santos. Naked,
except from waist to knees, their choco-
late colored hides glisten in the sun and
their well cultivated muscles stand out
like whipcords. Each gang has its lead
er, generally the tallest and most pow
erful negro among them, who carries
rattle. to the music of which his follow
ers keep step in rapid jog trot, singing
a low, monotonous song meanwhile in
words to us unintelligible. Sometimes
the rattle gives place to a small flag
Cor. Providence journal.
Persian Mode of Punishment.
An extraordinary punishment is now
in vogue in Persia. 1t was introduced
by the present shah with view to put
ting stop to the petty pilfering that
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