The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-04-16

Just been cut down, and now by fields
OF cleared land. in which the stumps were
still standing. IN these / could see the
little coffee plants which had been set out
in holes scooped out of the earth. the
plants being shaded with sticks from th,.
fierce rays of the sun Now We went by
great platforms of cement, upon which
the coffee beans were drying, and back of
them we could see the laborers' houses,
streets of red adobe huts with roofs of
red tile.
At last, after eco miles of such travel
Ing, l came to the station Of Rubeirao
Preto, and here was met by an engine
which Mr.. Philip Hammond, the manager
OF the Dumont fazenda, had sent down to
take me to the estate. Il had letters to
him from the secretary of agriculture of
Sas Paulo and was therefore entertained
right royalty during the few days of my
stay.
BIGGEST COFFEE ESTATE.
You people who perhaps think that cof-
fee grows wild have little idea of the
business of a great plantation like the
Dumont. There is not a bonanza farm In
the United States 1 venture which costs
as much annually nor one which EMPLOYS
so many hands.
The estate itself has tens of thousands
of acres. 1t contains over Is, 900 acres of
coffee fields and 400 acres OF pastures
1t is planting more trees every year, and
1t Is kept like a. garden. To so around
it you would have to travel forty miles
and there are more than forty miles Of
railroad track on it built solely to carry
the coffee.
The estate supports $500 people, who
live upon it. 1t has twenty three colonies,
ranging. in size from seventy families
down. 1t has great stores to supply its
| people with food. 1t has a bakery, a
drug store, a saw mill and planning mill
and at one time it had a brewery It has
vast factories for cleaning the coffee and
preparing it for the market, and it has
also offices in which there are book
keepers taking account Of every item
Of expense, so that they can tell you all
most to tree how much coffee each of
the 5,000,O 600 trees is producing and every
item connected with the picking of it
and sending it to the seaports.
The laborers on the estate are thor
oughly organized. Each man has his own
work, the employees being managed by
administrators who have charge of blocks
of trees ranging from 1,oe0.e00 down. In
the work the trees are divided among
families, each family taking charge OF
5000 or 1000 trees, planting them and
keeping them clean At picking time al
the employees are set, to work gathering
the coffee berries and bringing them tc
the cars. One man can pick enough Der
ries. in day. to make about fifty pounds
Of coffee. At picking time there are
train loads of coffee berries moving tc
and fro from the fields to the factories
and within few weeks 10000 bags of cof-
fee beans are sheled out, dried and
shipped.
HOW COFFEE TREES GROW.
Before taking you on trip over the
estate let me tell you how coffee is
grown. Few people have any idea how
much work 1t takes to produce the cur
which they have with their breakfast
In the first place. the trees must be
sprouted In seed beds, the beans being
sown much like we sow peas. Only the
best coffee beans are chosen for this pur.
pose. When the coffee plants are about
eighteen months old they have grown s