Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-06-17
IMPORT MUCH COFFEE.

during the year 1919 the United
States imported s52,529,49S pounds of
coffee, having an entry value OF nearly
$1O5, DOC, 900. To the average reader
this may not appear very startling,
but a little calculation will bring to
mind the significance of these figures
One pound of finely ground coffee will
make no less than three gallons of a
reasonably strong beverage. Our 1913
imports therefore made at least g.
557, 500, 900 gallons. A standard gal
Ion contains 231 cubic inches, or, nut
ting it a little differently, would fill a
cylindrical coffee pot Z inches in diam
eter and 6 inches high. The coffee
imported in 1913 would therefore fill a
cylinder seven inches in diameter
and 242,lSS miles high. Could such
a cylinder be erected it would be
necessary to take "a not to build it
in the direction of the moons orbit
around the earth, for that satellites
average distance from our planet b.
ing but 23S,S5O miles, it might knock
or from the top Of our extended cof-
fee pot some 1888 miles. Were the
cylinder flexible and the base we'll
anchored however, it might topple
over and wrap itself nearly ten times
around the earth at the equator. All
OF which is mentioned merely to show
that we drink some coffee in this
country.
over tWo-thirds of the coffee con-
sqqhed in the United Statess comes
frpbf Brazil. Our Imports from that
coriitry in 1913 amounted l to some
thing over G25, OOO, 900 pounds, having
a value at the ports OF entry of $73,-
65O,43O.
Where It Grows.
Healthy coffee trees produce in the
axilla of each leaf from ~ to 16 buds,
which in Towering have an exauisi-
tive perfume. These flowers become
dark and whittier and fall off in 2 or 3
days, leaving groups OF stems. These
IN turn grow into the coffee berries
which closely resemble dark red cher.
ries. Each berry contains two seeds,
growing face to face, and these are
the coffee beans of commerce..
The plant flourishes best in we'll
Watered regions, in a sub-tropical eli
mate at an elevation of 1900 to 5000
feet, and in rich soil. All these ele-
ments are found to perfection in Bra
zll, especially in the four states of
Sac Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Espirito.
and Minas Geraes, whose combined
areas cover about one-fifth of the
vast domain of the Republic This
section produces about four-fifths of
the worlds supply of coffee.
Some Coffee History.
The practice of coffee drinking on.
countered for a long time the opposi.
ton of sovereigns and straight.laced
society, partly on political, partly on
rellglous grounds. but in spite of that
II made its way slowly across the Old
World into Arabia, through Asia Min.
or, northern Africa, and Turkey.
The first coffee house vas opened in
London in 1to2, and about the same
time Paris took up the habit. The
first coffee grown in Europe was
the result of experiments by French
n Dutch botanists. The Dutch in
troduced it i1to Java, while the
french brought it into the West In
dies. A Portuguese, Joao Alberto
CASTILLO B%ranco, is said to have plant
ed the first coffee tree IN Rio de Jan
elro in l76O, and from this small be-
ginning has developed the greatest
industry OF the country, for Brazil,
thanks to the climate, soil and similar
factors, has become the greatest cof-
fee producer Of the world.