Evening star., 1901-10-12

as much as from 10 to 20 cents pound at
the seaports nearby. At the same time the
government gave percentages to the chlefs
of the various villages according to the
quality of the coffee produced in their re-
spective districts. They established rules
of culture organized nurseries to provide
the best of plants for the natives, and in
this way improved the Java coffee plant
until it was one of the best of the world
The coffee used at that time came from
plants imported from Arabia. Then a
blight came which destroyed almost all
the plantations of that variety and under
which the coffee industry of Java was
about ruined. Just before the blight Java
shipped 300,00O,OO0 pounds of Java coffee
to Europe. Today her exports are some
thing like 60,OO0,O0O pounds. She is rails
ing more of the Liberian coffee, of which
l shall write later.
On the Government Plantations.
Some of the best coffee estates 1 have
seen are on the slopes of the Tenger noun
tains in northeastern Java. 1 reached
them by taking train at Soerbaya and then
going on ponies about days ride through
the hills. I rode for miles along the sides
of the mountains through coffee planta-
tionS. There were millions of trees, the
most of them not much bigger around than
fishing poles, covered with vanished green
leaves. In some places the plantations
were young, the bushes being shaded with
banana plants and with trees. In others
they were loaded with berries, which men,
women and children were picking in bas-
kets and carrying home.
There were villages scattered here and
there through the coffee districts, collec-
tions of little houses of woven bamboo
basket work, which looked more like play
houses than anything else. Each village
had a gate leading into it. The houses
were fenced with bamboo poles, set cross
wise. There was coffee drying in the sun
in front of some of the houses. and before
others l saw girls pounding the hulls off
the dried beans.
1 asked as to how the government man.
aged its estates, and was told that the vii
lagos were required to plant the coffee un-
der government supervision. The officials
see that the land is properly cleared, the
plants set out and the trees cultivated
until they come into bearing. The people
are paid for this work After this the trees
are divided up among the families of the
village, each having as much as it can at
tend to- Each family is responsible for it's
own trees and their product. The differ
ent members of the family gather the ber-
ries, carry them home and dry them in the
sun. When thoroughly dried they are put
into wooden mortars and the hulls pounded
off. The chaff of skins and hulls is then
Wtnnowed and the beans are carried to the
warehouses and sold to the government at
10 fiorins a picul or at sS for 1873 pounds
This is too cheap for the natives to make
anything. They are not interested in the
business, and they will not cultivate the
plaNS caTeIully. am told II the price
doubled there would be a great deal more
old government Java, and that of a better
quality. At present the best Java coffee is
raised on private estates.
The Coffee Warehouses
The government coffee warehouses are
scattered throughout the coffee districts,
and they are also to be found in the larger
cities. visited one in the town of Poespo,
where l stopped on my way to the Bromo
volcano. 1t was a building of woven bam-
boo walls and a roof of red tiles, with a
cement floor. On the wide porch in front of
it were scales for weighing the coffee and
within, piled up like much oats on the
floor was little mountain of green coffee
beans. In the pile were two wooden SCOOP
shovels for bagging the coffee, and two
half-naked men were at work preparing it
for shipment to market. Near the door
sitting cross-legged upon the floor before
table about a foot high, was a turbaned