The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-04-10

1
by nature that it makes beautiful blanket,
| warm enough for q mattress. have had
a photograph made of it, my friend, Mr..
Rock, and myself holding it up to show
you its size. The pineapples here are de-
| licious, and the bananas and coffee are UNI
surpassed by those of any other part of
South America.
A CUP OF CHOCOLATE.
The chief article of export from Ecuador,
| however, is cacao, or, as we call it, cocoa.
1t is from this that the chocolate comes
| There are vast cocoa plantations along the
Guyas river and the other rivers of the Pa
/ citic coast, and the planters have one of the
best paying businesses among the farmers
| OF the world. There are few plantations
| which do not net II per cent, and many
! bring in five times this amount. To-day it
| costs here, / am told. about cents of our
money to raise a pound of cocoa, whereas
1t sells in Guayaquil for about IA cents,
making clear profit to the farmer of IL
cents (gold pound, and paying him a
| pront of about 400 per cent. This year
ecuador Will raise about forty million
pounds OF cocoa beans, which will be
| shipped to Europe and the United States.
Ihe crop is not difficult one to raise, and
when an orchard is once bearing it is good
for big income for from twenty to thirty
years. Until came here had no idea as
10 how cocoa was grown. l had heard of
the cocoa bean, and supposed it came from
vine or bush. The truth is, the beans
which, when ground up, make our chocolate
grow on trees from twenty to thirty feet
nigh. The tree is much like an immense
lilac bush. 1t is ragged and gnarly, and
its fruit, which is bigger than the pomelo
or grape fruit, grows on the stem or trunk
and close to the branches 1t is of the
shape of an immense lemon, and of about
the same color, and the seeds within 1t are
the chocolate beans of commerce. Each ball
of fruit contains from twenty-eight to thirty
brown beans about as big as lima beans.
These are washed out of the pulp that sur
rounds them and dried and then shipped to
the chocolate factories all over the world
There is chance for men who have some
capital, and who are not afraid of the
masma OF the tropics, to make money here
in raising chocolate.
AS for me- would not advise any one to
come to Guayaquil or tropical Ecuador to
engage in anything. My experience is such
that if Mount Chimborazo was one solid
lump of chocolate and it was offered me
as reward for staying here for ten years
/ would not take it. Nearly every Amer
lean who comes here gets the fever, and 1
am told that 80 per cent. of all Americans
who have tried to live here have died. AS
to the profits of cocoa plantations, how
ever, wild lands can be got very cheap
~. / was told yesterday of a hacienda
containing enough land for 150OO,GOO trees
which could be bought for $4,000, and good
! lands can be got for from $40 an acre
CIlIfi cd
90 cents a tree, and as you can easily grow
over 500 trees to the acre, each of which
will yield you from one to two pounds of
| chocolate year, you see how valuable the
yielding orchards are The only way to
make the business pay would be to grow
your own orchard This is a matter of
about five years. The first thing is to clear
the ground by cutting down everything and
burning it. Next bananas are set out about
ten feet apart in order that they may grow
up and shade the young cocoa trees Be
tween each two bananas a hill of cocoa
beans is planted, so that the hills are about
| ten feet apart Three beans are put in
each hill. They soon sprout. At first they
look like little orange trees. They grow
rapidly and at three years they begin to
produce fruit. After once planting all the
cultivation necessary is to keep down the
underbrush and cut off the vegetation
which springs up. Such a thing as hoeing
and blowing crop as we do is not known
In the tropical parts of Ecuador. Never
theless great amount of labor is required
and the lack of suitable help is a serious
drawback. Most of the planters take adj
vantage of the debt laws and keep a num-
Der of poor people in debt to them One mil
llonaire hacienda owner, whom L visited last
week, has, was told, workmen on his pay
rolls who owe him a quarter of million
dollars, and he complained bitterly to me
that he could not get enough men to work
his estates. | doubt not he would gladly
nave loaned another hundred thousand for
the debt slaves which such an investment
would have brought him. The Iaborers.
you know, are as a rule the native In
dams. They are thriftless, but hard work.
ers They are accustomed to being in debt
and manage to keep themselves so.
COFFEE AND SUGAR.
"A great deal of money is invested in Ecua-
dor in coffee and sugar plantations. Six
estates were set out in sugar about twenty
odd years ago at cost Of $1,OO00OO. and
there are a number of others with smaller
capitals. The machinery used is chiefly
American. have visited a number of coffee
groves and / am told that the Guayaouil
coffee ranks high in the markets Great
quantities are shipped from here to Europe.
the exports last year amounting to over
81 900 i'm gold. The United States bought
about one-fifth of this product, and it was
probably sold by our retailers as old gov
eminent Java 1t is indeed excellent coffee.
/ like that 1 have had here as well as any
l have ever tasted, though it is made and
served in q way that any American house
keeper would say would ruin it. This is
the process for making it: The coffee fresh
roasted, is ground very fine and then put
into little bag and hot water poured on it
by the teaspoonful at a time. Only enough
water is used to get out the strength of the
coffee, and the fluid at the end is as black
as ink and of the consistency Of thin syrup.
This is put in bottle tightly corked up,
and when any one of the family wants a
cup of coffee a tablespoonful or SO is poured
into a cup, which is then filed up with hot
milk or water. The result is coffee full! of
aroma and delicious to taste. At the res
taurants and cafes they serve such coffee,
and the coffee bottle is more in use here
than the wine bottle in France.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
A Unique Dress.
Boston Transcript
An evening dress made entirely Of chicken