The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1897-03-19
COFFEE GROWING.
Interesting Letter from Costa Rica
on the Above Subject from P A.
Beatty, Formerly of Mid
dletown, this County.

LA SELvA DE LUIS, March 4, 1897.
MesSrS. Editors Of the Caizen:
left old Maryland the latter part of
December, and after eight days of
travel by land and water arrived at
Port Llmon, Costa Rica's eastern port.
The day after making land | came
seventy miles inland to Turrialba, on
the Zero Carril," as the railroad is
called, and on January LIST mounted
scru6by little mountain pony aud after
five aud one-half hours struggle
through ten miles of slough and forest,
reached my present abiding place, La
Selva, one of the largest coffee fncds
in Luis Valley. The Luis has been
opened only three years, but so favor
aUle is the soil aud climate to coffee
growing, that nearly dozen hacien-
das have been opened since.
Clearing for planting is a tedious and
expensive labor. A number of peous
are first sent in to underbrush, clear
ing away the brush and smaller trees,
and the behukas, or vines, which in
places form a regular network. Then
the aX-men are sent in, usually natives
and indians. who ply their long ham
died, unbalanced axes with remark
able skill. 1t is grand sight to see
one of these great trees iall 1t sways
and crackles its great top, one hundred
and fifty feet above the earth, sinks
slowly at first, then faster and faster,
crushing and rending dozen smaller
trees and finally crashes to earth with
a report that can be heard half q mile,
fnllAWnH ht- #
branches.
The telling is done in January and
February aud allowed to dry until
about April, when the torch is applied,
and everything is wrapped in sheet
of fire.
The stump, trunk and larger limbs
remain unconsumed, but under the
combined influence of heat and wet,
ants and wood-wormy, they are re-
duced to mold in three or four years,
the largest disappearing in FIVE or six.
After the burning follows Stalking
and holiug," after which the dlnasdgO
or young coffee plant is transferred
from its bed to the field "in adobe,n
as the clod of earth in which it is re-
planted is called. After this it is only
necessary 10 keep clear of weeds Ito do
which requires about six cleanings per
year, and to prime until the fourth
year, when the first fall crop rewards
the planters patience. 1t requires an
outlay of 5000 COSTA Rican currency.
$3.50 eXchange) to bring one nldRzdnd
{ Is acres) to first crop. This includes
the cost of land. One nldnzdnd
will produce twenty-five bags of coffee
uhinh ut
worth $50, Costa Rcan currency, per
bag, or $3.50, so that one crop pays all
expenses. After this the expenses are
light. 1t will be many years before it
will be necessary to fertilize in the
Luis, for there is great quantity of
rich volcanic soil and vegetable loan
containing all the ingredients necess
sary to the growth of the first quality
of coffee. The life Of the pioneer planter
is not all the color of roses.
We are separated by ten miles of
rugged bride path from the nearest
post office. Our dwellings are made of
holes thached with came leaves; few
of the more fortunate of us have zinc
roots and canvass walls. Our food,
which consists almost exclusively of
black-beans and rice, plantains, Goldfish
and "dough-cakes," is cooked on the
typical Costa Rican stove, which con-
sists of an earth covered. framework
supported by four posts, OH which the
fire is built. OF course, we have coffee,
but the native bean, instead of roasting
it; the result being as vile decoction
as man ever drank. l was obliged to
get after my cook several times before
| could get it made properly. There
are many annacoudas, snakes and in
sects in the jungles which form our
boundaries, though the two former
seldom show themselves in the clear
ing. Occasionally a goat" which is
very similar in form to the doe in the
States, runs across the open, and the
black-faced Congo balloon comes to the
edge of the forest and makes things
hideous at sunrise with his unearthly
yells. Sometimes a "tiger,n which re-
sembles our Cougar, will make dash
across the cleared land, but they are
very shy, though they have killed sew
eral cattle this year at hacienda Atiro,
a stock farm about five miles from La
Selva.
/ am obliged to close this rather alb
ruptly, as messenger is about to leaye
for Turrialba. | will endeavor to send
another description of things and peo-
pie in the Luis in the near future.
Yours, &C.,
p. A. BEATTY.