The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-11-08
THE GROWING 81 coFTEr.
The Difficulties and DiscOuragements
nR 1An o,,ltint,,tnn

II have been coffee planting for. the
last twenty years." says a Jamaica
planter, ''and during that time / have
twice seen fuctuatlon Of prices Of 60
per cent; and the large differences in
values, combined with a very great un-
certainty as to crops these being de-
pendent upon the proper distribution Of
the rainfall, and not upon the cultlva-
tlon-makes coffee planting difficult,
When say the crop ID not dependent
upon the cultivation, ! mean that how
ever good Che cultivation may be, with
out proper weather there will be no crop.
With practically the same acreage as
now-i. e., $50 acres-my crops have
ranged from % casks Of $50 pounds to
lin one Year, 154 casks. The best sea-
sons may be said to be: A dry January
and February to rest the trees after the
previous crop; rains to bring out blos-
soms-the best Is a general bloom in
April; then good rains in May, and not
too hot July and August. II the latter
months are hot, the crop Is likely to be
burnt before Il Is mature. The low prices
are attributable to the immense produc-
ton Of coffee in Brazil.
when once coffee growing Is well es-
tablished, scwts. GAS pounds) per acre
may be expected, and this return should
lust for fifteen years at least II may
vary considerably from year to year:
thus, after very heavy crop, say cwts.
or even cwts per acre, the return would
be proportlonately small; still 4 cwts.
per acre should be about the return in
good land, and without fertilizers,
should last fifteen years. In this part Of
the island we expect coffee to benr for
twenty years after the first bearing, say
twenty-five years from the time Of
planting.
Speaking roughly, the cost Of land,
fencing, planting, cultivation and all
other charges should come to SIS per
acre by the end Of the fifth year-that is
the year when one may reasonably ex-
pect crop; a small crop would be reap
ed possibly the third or fourth year, but
1t Is not good for the trees. ] think that
a fair estimate of the cultivation, reap
ing and curing of the crop per acre, In
GLIDING 10 per cent for supervision and
10 per cent for extras. is $24.33 for re-
! turn Of cwts. OF clean coffee ut for
sale.
1.-THE price of land varies very much,
but generally speaking So an acre has
been considered fair value. OF course,
LHGTG dTG llAll6 " NC AAtNh CT AAiNNAA AuWNA
prices; the government lands sell Of
about Sl.22 per acre. In short. there is
no regular price, values being determine
ed by the situation. It would be use
less to undertake coffee planting unless
there is plenty of labor, as much Is need
ed for wedding, pruning and reapIng.
''As to the price of land In coffee. ]
should imagine that about 1898 an, acre
for old and $146 for young coffee would
satisfy most people.
"2ye crops could not be planted be-
tween the rows of coffee trees, though
orange trees might be planted at this al
titude (2.2OO feet) in place Of other shade
trees. During the first three years some
sort of shade is necessary. and 1t is the
custom 10 plant yams, cassava, cocoa
etc! but this should be done sparingly.
as underground Is not good for the trees.
"The climate here has averaged I2 de-
grecs =. in the shade for years, In the
summer II rarely goes above so degrees
+. We have two rainy seasons-one In
May and one in October
ut ia always healthy In the coffee
\ growing districts, as the best altitude
for that industry Is between 1900 and
1900 feet, In this parish (Manchester)
we are dependent for our water supply
on rain caught in tanks"