The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1897-12-02
Coffee-G Growing in Costa RIGA.
Wise and kindly Laws by which Foreigners may
Acquire Government Lands at Small Cost,


Special Correspondence of The Journal |
CARTAGo, COSTA RIGA, Oct. Il, 1897.
Everybody in this country, who has am
olton and money enough, is a 'landed
proprietor, If on ever so small a scale.
and nine times out of ten is a coffee grow
er. Here, the gentleman farmers rule the
world, and coffee farming is now the
primary industry. The Oldest coffee lands
OF Central America, and by far the most
valuable, are those lying round about Car
tago Anywhere within radius of 50
miles you may find plantations, either in
their infancy or full development, cover
ing the valley and extending far up the
hillsides. The train between San Jose and
Cartago takes you through miles of IN
fenced coffee fields, and the country roads
over which you journey on horseback are
lined on both sides by high walls of glossy
green coffee bushes, above which wave the
mighty fronds Of the banana, planted to
shade the young trees. Many of these es-
tates yield enormous revenues, and to
purchase even one uncultivated acre in
the valley OF Carriage would mean an out
lay OF at least S400-and then you have to
20 back ten or twenty miles from the
railroad. Land near the city, planted
with coffee, brings from 500 to 81 900
Per acre. Costa Hiea coffee is pronounce
ed by experts to be among the very best
grown anywhere in the world, and in re-
sent years the extraordinary prices paid
fol it, especially in England. have caused
nearly all the gentleman farmers to
practically abandon their other crops.
The World Fair in Chicago gave a Won
aelful impetus to this coffee. Everybody
who attended the Exposition remembers
the incompatible beverage which was
constantly served from the Costa Rican
pavilion, to thousands upon thousands of
thirsty people, who seemed never to get
enough of it, OF the - exhibitors of this
product, 50 We're awarded medals-a pro-
portion not reached by any other country.
The last official statistics l have been
able to find here show that in 1892 there
we're o,232 coffee plantations in Costa
Rica, with 26, $50, 907 trees on them: and
that in the same year SO, 367, 300 pounds
We're exported, since then the area of
cottee-culture has been very greatly in
creased, and although it will take some
years for the newer fields to come to per-
lection, last years output was consider
ably above forty million pounds. | have
met number of North American families
all, declare that they would not exchange
their homes here for the best the United
States can afford. Indeed with proper
surroundings-tha is at sufficient alti-
tUde to secure perfection of climate, and
with ones nearest and dearest to keep
one cOmpany-one may lead an ideal life
ID any of these Spanish American coun-
tries. If Paradise is finally to be located
on this mundane sphere, as many good
people believe, it will surely occupy
position half way up some tropic noun
tain in the Geira teaplada of Central or
South America. OF the West Indies, or
Himalayas where the atmosphere is that
vi eternal spring time, with eternal SHOWS
4u view upon the mountain tops, where
the skies are always blue, and fruits and
flowers perennial, and picturesque beauty
abouuds on every hand. 1t was the lowell
ness of these newly discovered lands, more
than the cry of Ell Dorado, which caused
the companions of Cortez and Cordova to
forget the grape-laden valleys and saffron
,prnkled hills the ancestral casas and
and the dark eyed madens of old CASTLE
And in these less adventurous days men of
different mould remain year after year in
voluntary exile far from the kinsfolk they
love, in absolute cOntentment, notwith-
standing the isolation which every for
eigner must feel where another language
is spoken than that to which he was
born, and where other customs and modes
OF thought prevail. Even the passing trav-
eler though he sees much that seems
absurd and semi civilized in contrast to
Northern ways, is certain to become so
much attached to the hospitable and kind
ly people, SO in love with the dolce far
niente of life here, the charming scenery
and perfect weather, that to tear himself
away becomes real grief, and the longer
he remains the more difficult the task
OF all tropical countries Costa RIGA is
most inviting to the immigrant, and best
adapted to North Americans, because it is
about the only one where native produc-
tons can be raised with profit and impun-
ty with free white labor. OF course there
are coast lands where the climate is dead
ly; but there are plenty of elevated val
leys farther inland, from 5000 to s.
900 feet above the sea- where no
atmosphere on earth is more health
full and no soil more fertile. In this
central portion of the little Republic,
the thermometer ranges between IS and IS
degrees Fair from year to year, and not
only tropical products are grown, but
wheat, corn potatoes and clover, and all
the fruits of the temperate zone. If you