The Republican journal., 1897-07-15

90 just as we'll IL you choose to remain
elsewhere during eight months of the
year-maybe better, if you are wise
enough to leave the place in the hands of
a competent administrator or overseer, as
the wealthier natives do. But you will
naturally prefer to be on the spot when
the berries begin to ripen, to see with
your own eyes that all are picked and
properly taken care of, since every one of
them contributes it's little mite to swell
your income. You can calculate your
crop months ahead, almost to the pound
because the trees invariably average each
SO much. Two pounds 'm' oro,' in
local parlance (that is. all ready for ship
ping)-is d fair estimate for a tree between
three and five years old. Larger trees, in
more favored localities, will net 25, some
80 pounds M ORC. And this is leaving
irrigation, fertilization and other aids to
nature, quite out of the calculation.
Wherever science has lent to Providence a
helping hand, the harvest has been amaz-
ingly increased.
Life on some of these Guatemalan es-
states is by no means the primitive and
joyless existence that the unsophisticated
may imagine. The owner of the great
adobe casa with its big cool rooms and
ample patio, its fruits and flowers and
gardens galore, is literally monarch of all
he surveys and can easily have most of
the luxuries of New York or Paris-with
deal more comfort than money could
buy in either of those benighted cities
Some of the manor houses of interior
Guatemala, several days journey on
mule back from any town, are most ele-
gantly furnished, with electric lights and
marble baths, stables filled with blooded
stock and wine cellars with rarest vim
tages. l have written about coffee so
many times from various parts of Span
ish-America that l take it for granted my
readers know all about the n10dtS 0perdndi,
OF its cultivation and preparation for mar
ket There are few more beautiful sights
in the world than coffee grove, with its
shrubs of rich dark green, bearing white,
fragrant blossoms and bright crimson
berries. The bushes are set at equal dis
tances, in rows on a perfect line; and are
kept carefully trimmed to uniform size
and height, for convenience in picking.
In its wild state, the plant will grow Is or
20 feet high; but under cultivation it is
kept down to 6 or feet. 1t has single
stem, opening out at the top with long
dense, dropping branches, which fall to
the ground. The rich glossy leaves are
long and pointed, the flowers coming out
from the angle of the leaf in groups of
from six to twelve, and resembling the
Jasmine in shape and fragrance. The
fruit which succeeds the blossom, looks
very much like ripe cranberry. Each
dark, red berry contains two oval seeds
which are convex on one side and fiat on
the other and lie together face to face,
ment. Sometimes only one seed forms
and in ITS process of growth, as it pushes
itself against the dividing membrane aud
encounters no opposition, it naturally
rounds over and becomes the queer little
bean known to the trade as .'peaberry.'' -
To secure the proper growth of the cof-
fee, plenty Of shade is required. To
reach this result, on some tincas the
bushes are set out several feet apart
and between them shade OF fruit trees are
planted; on others bananas. When these
rules are not followed, the coffee trees
are placed together and when fully grown
their tops intermingle, making a solid
body OF dark foliage, shutting out every
ray of sunlight from the ground but with
less profitable results than in the usual
way. | am informed that the average
crop of the average Guatemalan planta-
tion is about 1,500 quintdls year. One
plantation near the port of Champarico
has $50, 900 trees, and exports from II, 900
to 20, 900 bags of coffee every year. Most
of these planters are rich and have COM
plete machinery-someo of them the latest
and best, with steam power. The
works are always located as near the
centre of the estate as possible, and
running stream near such location is
considered of great benefit for plenty of
water saves labor, they say, and makes a
more stylish" coffee. After the berries
have been picked and carried to the fac
tory, they are run through pulping ma
chine, stream of water passing through
the hopper with the berries. The machine
breaks the pulp and separates the berry;
after which the pulp is carried off and
spread around the trees for .'dressing."
The berry is discharged from spout into
reservoir, which has cemented bottom
enclosed by masonry "a water tight
wall, about two feet high. Water
is run through with the coffee,
and when sufficiently washed, the
water is drawn off, leaving the beans to
dry in the sun. Afterwards they are put
through a machine which breaks the skin
and winnows it clean from chaff and dirt.
Next it is all picked over by hand, every
berry assorted according To IFS oua]jtv