St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-24

Pounds of Coffee Required
Every Year to Satisfy the
Thirst Of Seventy Millions dr.
People in This Country-Life
ON the Coffee Plantations.
Special Correspondence of the Globe.
MANAGUA, NICARAGUA, June l5.-It
is stupendous fact that the nearly
seventy millions of inhabitants OF the
( United States use from five 10 six hult-
dred millions of pounds of coffee each
year. Taking the average of Central
American production. it would require
nearly six hundred. thousand acres of
carefully planted and we'll cultivated
land to produce the breakfast beverage
for Uncle Sans children.
Coffee does not do we'll on the low
lands. An elevation of from 800 feet to
1000. and even higher, is the home OF
this plant. Large aromatic berries.
equal to the Java coffee of commerce, are
produced here at an elevation of from
1900 to 5000 feet above the sea. the
coffee tree demands the warmth of a
tropical sun combined with the moisture
of tropical rains. 1t is a hardy tree,
but.itTeQuires hot and humid at
mosphere, the daInper the better, up to
the picking season for tho production
and the perfection of its fruit. 1t also
requires a deep, rich soil; for that rea-
son, new land which has been enriched
through centuries by decaying vegeta-
tion is the best. The wise prospector
will seek land covered with the densest
underground of tropical Jungle.
In preparing land for planting coffee,
thiSundergrowth is cut out by the ma
tive with sword-like knife
CALLED A MACHETE.
This is sthe general implement of
agriculture, as we'll as warfare, here ;
and one seldom sees man from The
country without one. This knife takes
the place OF our axe, pillow, hoe, scytne.
reaper, mattock. pick and revolver. In
the hands of man its use is
quite as !. universal as eiS the
hairpin with woman. The under-
brush is cut down. as l said, aud it is
piled in rows. to decay. which it does
under the influence of the steaming
atmosphere in short order. The large
tIECS HdNC UCClt hOPb lOt obQdSs oiiIS
the young plant requires protection
from the burning sun until it comes to
bearing. If there . is not enough of
large timber TO properly shade the cof-
fee, a banana or -plantain is set out near
each plant.
Coffee trees, are set twelve to fifteen
feetzapart each way during tbs rainy
season, which usually lasts from the
first of May to the middle of November.
The ground is not plowed. Holessf6r
the young plant are made with the ma
chete. The new underground must be
cleaned out twice year. for nature
does not rest here as in the Northern
states. The natives do the ressing-in
hammocks. usually.
The fourth year the trees produce a
small crop, the fifth year good crop,
land the sixth year full one; and there
after for twenty years the owner may
take hts ease. eal
From 800 to $50 trees are planted on
AN ACRE OF GRE UND. .-
"A good average yield in the ..SierFas
( near Managua is one and one-fUurth
1 pounds of cleaned and dried coffee per
/ mountains about Makagalpa anas Jie-
+ tega, in the northernspart of Nienf az llas
the average is claimed to be more than
double the figure.
The coffee trees, or bush, would
naturally grow to height of Is to 20
feet, but it should be kept pruned back
to 8 and 10, thus causing it to spread its
branches within the convenient reach
of the picker. Its leaves are of oDlong
shape, about four inches In length. and
of deep, glossy green; the flowers are
OF delicate white, with a suggestion of
maiden's pure blush: the berries
when ripe are of bright red. giving
the bush the appearance of our North
ern holly except the number of these
berries is as twenty to one of the holly.
The berries being ripe, crowds of
pickers are sent to the field with bas-
kets, and soon the coffee is being sent
to the place prepared for curing it, 1t
if first put Through sort of huller,
which removes the outside shell,a hard,
pulpy cover. From here the berries are
dumped into vat of water, where
they are allowed to remain and
ferment about twenty hours. They are
then well washed and spread outon b
floor of hard, clean ground or cement to
dry. Here they remain for week. If
the sun is fair. and then. having been
thoroughly dried, are taken to a house
~
or ten days, until the grains of coffee
take on
A BLUSH TINT.
They are then put in sort of endless
circular stone OR cement trough, around
inside of which a heavy stone wheel
revolves. This removes the final
parchment-like covering and polishes
the berries. Next they are run through
sorting machine. which drops each
size of grain into separate sacks; and
now the precious cropiS ready for mar
ket.
Above I have described the most
prevalent mode of handling and curing
coffee; but this programme is varied
from in many Instances. On some
haciendas the driving and hulling are
both done by improved machinery. On
others, great array of women are used
lii sorting the grains, discardiug the
imperfect and classifying sizes and
qualities of the good.
1t is claimed that the entire cost of
the production of coffee ard preparing
it fer market, including interest ON the
| investment in land and machinery, does
not exceed % per cent of the
selling price, as markets have been
during the last five or six years. Money
is loaned oil Safe security for ~
pei ccHe pei inoAtA, lno Danh rate. 10
per cent. the brokers' rate. The
average is 2 to ~. monthly. The de-
mand is greater than the supply at
these figures. This comes of the great
profits of coffee growing. just as the
raising of cotton in the Southern States
of America by slave labor ihducsd
careless methods of financierlng on lie
part of the planters. Most people here
who nave money prefer putting it into
coffee rather than to loan at the pre-
yailing rates.