Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-09

blanket Cut From a Tree.
ion pounds OF cocoa beans, which will
be shipped to Europe and the United
to raise. and when an orchard is once
bearing IL is good for a big income for
from twenty to thirty years. Until 1 came
here 1 had no idel as to how cocoa was
grown. l had heard of the cocoa bean and
supposed II came from a vine or bush. The
ruth is, the beans, which when ground up
rake our chocolate. grow trees from
twenty to thirty feet high. The tree is
UGH like an immense lilac bush. IL Is
ragged and gnarly, and its fruit, which is
bigger than the pomelo grape fruit,
grows on the stem or trunk and close 10
the branches. IL is of the shape of an
immense lemon, and of about the same
color, and the seeds within IL are the
chocolate beans OF commerce. Each bale
of fruit contains from twenty-eight TO
thirty brown beans about as big as lima
beans. These are washed out of the pulp
that surrounds them and dried and then
shipped to the chocolate factories al over
The world. There is a chance for men who
have some capital, and VINO are not afraid
of the miasms of the tropics, 10 make
money here in raising chocolate.
Fatal to Americana.
As for me, would not advise any one to
come to Guayaqui or tropical Ecuador to
engage in anything. My experience is such
that if Mount Chimborazo was one solid
lump Of chocolate and il was offered me
reward for staying here for ten years
would not take it. Nearly every Ameri-
can who comes here gets the fever and L
am told that 30 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 gotten very cheap
ly. 1 was told yesterday of q hacienda
containing enough land for Il 900 900 trees
which could be bought for 1900. and good
lands can be gotten for from SO an acre
up. Cultivated orchards are worth about
GU cents a tree, and you can easily grow
over 500 trees to the acre, each of which
Will yield you from one to two pounds of
Chocolate a year. you see how valuab BILE 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 1T. 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 of the vegetation
which springs up. Such a thing as hoeing
and blowing a crop as we do is not known
I'm the tropical parts Of Ecuador. Never
theless a great amount of labor is required
and the lack of suitable help Is serious
drawback. Most of the planters take ad.
vantage of the debt laws and keep a NUM-
Der of poor people in debt to them. One
millionaire hacienda owner. whom I vis-
tied last week, has. 1 was told. workmen
OF a million dollars. and he complained
bitterly to me that he could not get enough
men to work his estates. / doubt not he
would gladly have loaned another hundred
thousand for the debt slaves which such an
investment would have brought him. The
laborers. You know. are. as a rule, the ma
tive Indians. They are thriftless but hard
workers. They are accustomed to being in
debt and manage to keep themselves so.
Coffee and suRnr.
A great deal Of money is invested in Ecu.
ador in coffee and sugar plantations. Six
estates were set out in sugar about twenty
odd years ago at a cost OF 81 10000, and
there are number OF others with smaller
capitals. The machinery used is chiefly
American. I have visited a number of cot.
fee groves and / am told that the Guaya.
quill coffee ranks high in the markets.
Great quantities are shipped from here to
Europe, the exports last year amounting
to over one million dollars in gold. The
United States bought about one-ffth OF
this product. and 1t was probably sold by
our retailers as old government Java. It
is indeed excellent coffee. 1 like that I
nave had mere as wei as any Il nave ever
tasted though II Is made and served in a
way that any American housekeeper would
say would ruin 1t. This is the process for
making it: The coffee, fresh roasted, II
ground very fine. and then put into a little
bag and hot water poured on II by the tea
spoonful at time. Only enough water
is used to get out the strength OF the coffee
and the fluid at the end is black as ink
and OF the consistency of thin syrup. This
is put i'm q bottle. tightly corked up. and
when any one of the family wants a cup %
coffee a tablespoonful or so Is poured into
a cup, which Is then filled UP with not milk
or water. The result Ii 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
TITS a wise thing never to go into .
bath after q meal"
why not?"
..Oh you'd hardly find II fhere .s-pbyfa-