Evening star., 1912-09-08
Nicaragua Now Revolution


piatcaus are the gres, coffee plantations.
These plantations resemble feudai estates
az nearly IA anything in modern times.
The owner or superintendent lives In \
cornforta BILE adobe house and looks after
his workmen In their thatched huts much
a. did the feudal lord Of old The re-
lation between master and servants Is "a
n rule very agreeable and cordial. Ths
workmen on the hills are. generally
speaking. more energetic than their low
land brothers and make good. quiet. in
dustrious workmen, although they ars
not ambitious.
The coffee trees are planted at equal dis
tances apart and as too much sun ~
Injurious to the young coffee shrubs plan
lains are sometimes planted Hetween
them as a shade protection. There ~
no more beautiful sight than cones
grove i'm full blossom. the innumerahle.
glistening white flowers. with. their DELI
cious fragrance contrasting with the dark.
rich green OF the coffee leaves. The hum
of the swarms OF bees drawn 10 the spot
by the fragrance of the blossoms ADDS
to the charm.
The busy time on a coffee plantation
comes when the once green and yellow
coffee berries begin To ripen and turn a
brilliant scarlet. This happens between
September and February. The groves ara
a blaze Of color. 1t IL then that every
man. woman and child + pressed INTO
service to pick and care for the ripening
berries. After being picked the berries
are taken in great basket loads and lain
out on the sunny cement floors OF tho
beneficios to dry. \ = they are drying
they are carefully turned over with long
wooden rakas When dry. the berry As
sumes its familiar brown color IL tho
coffee is to be exported I'm the hLsk the
process is then complete. and all that re-
mains is to put IL on OK carts ana haul IL
to the railroad or the lake shore. Hut
most of the coffee has the husk cleaned
of and the bean polished before shipping.
This is a process requiring great deal
of care. for. if not properly done. the fa-
vor of the coffee is impaired.
In this same part of Nicaragua hut
farther down the slopes and i'm the val
leys. are large sugar plantations. Near
Chichigalpa. on the railroad. is the larg-
est sugar plantation I'm Central America.
The management is in the hands Of a
London company, and handsome divi-
dends are paid. In these valleys. too. are
a number OF cacoa trees which prove very
profitable investments. The government
to encourage industry has offered a
bounty equivalent to cents for every
cacoa tree planted, and 10 cents for every
coffee tree planted. But the difficulty and
sometimes the impossibility of collecting
inducement
The coffee and sugar crops OF Nicaragua
for the last year are smaller than Usual
because of the difficulty of obtaining Ia
borers to tend and harvest the crops.
During these unsettled days many of the
men who would otherwise be at work are
in one army or the other, and conse-
quently the crops are short.
No story of Nicaragua written for
American readers would be complete
without reference TO the Pan-America n
Union and it's director, Mr.. John Barrett.
Both have done much for Nicaragua and
have delved into the hidden resources or
that country and emblazoned them TO
the world. Director Barrett says: The
resources of Nicaragua are inexhaust-
ible. Her soil is very fertile. her swamps
and forests contain a vast supply OF hne
hardwoods and her hills are storehouses
of precious metals. All these are await
ing the man to develop them. The field
is there. the harvest is ripe-who VIII
be the reapers?'