The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-07-14
Able Treatise by an Experienced
Coffee Grower.
THE NECESSITY FOR MACHINERY.
Methods In Use In Ceylon-Kona Cof-
fee Should Lead the World
Superiority of Coffee Grown at
High MISUNDERSTANDING Machines.

MR.. EDITOR:-In recent issue of
your paper l notice an article on the
coffee industry of these islands, in
which appear some very sensible re-
marks on the quality of the coffee
hitherto exported from Honolulu
AS the time is just approaching,
when the product from the large area
under cultivation, throughout the
group. will require mode of prepar-
alton totally different to that practised
in the past in order to place it on the
market in such shape as to create "a
demand, l trust you will allow me a
little space in your valuable columns
to say few words on coffee culture,
and give brief description of the
methods employed in Ceylon, in the
handling and curing of crops.
1t is gratifying to know that a gen
tleman of Mr.. Waibers experience has
paid visit to Honolulu and expressed
himself freely on the manner in which
coffee should be treated before it can
compete with other coffees on the open
market. The planters in Kona, in par
ticular, should not only feel elated
over his remarks on the bean from that
section; but should also feel grateful
to him for his valuable suggestions.
which, if acted upon, will in a great
measure enhance the value of their
product
There can be no question that Kona
coffee has earned a reputation for it
self abroad; purely from it's quality in
the cup. but as Mr.. Waibel says, the
article being principally called for by
parties who have visited the Islands
1t is likewise true that the superior
ity of the bean is due to local and
that is, Coffee Arabica, is the same all
the world over, the varieties having
been produced by the difference of the
elevation, soil, climate and latitude in
the countries in which coffee is to be
found today.
The districts of Puma, Olaa and Ha-
makua may produce bean which will
equal that of Kona when the product
is classed on it's technical merits; but
the experience of other countries has
elected two facts, viz: that upland cof-
fee is superior to that grown at lower
attitudes and that soils which are
more or less interspersed with boulders
or rocks in some form invariably pro-
duce fine sample of coffee
1t must be remembered, however in
this connection, that climate, more
particularly as regards rainfall and
temperature, play an important factor,
not only in the size and shape of the
bean, but also in the yield of the trees.
The far-famed Mocha, the finest cof-
fee in the world was raised and culti-
waited, not as might be inferred in Mo
cha, in the province OF Yemen at an
elevation estimated at 5000 feet above
sea level, and in a hot dry climate
with a sandy soil abounding in rocks
Whatever may be the condition of a
district in which coffee is cultivated,
as to the nature of the soil, climate,
etc, in order to insure success and pro-
duce a sample of coffee known in Cey-
lon as plantation" two things are
necessary: thorough cultivation and
the proper handling and curing of
crops, by the aid of modern machinery
in charge of men of practical expert
ence
The term plantation" as applied to
Ceylon coffees in distinction to native,
was known to the trade IN mean coffee