El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-11-06

women were at work picking the berries
, and by vast cement floors upon which great
carpets Of coffee beans were spread out in
the sun 10 dry
Best Are on sides Of Hills.
The soil is in beds from three 10 four
. Ieet deep lying upon bed OF gravel Tbe
1est plantations are on the sides OF the hills
Inc country is rolling and parts OF Id have
nothing but coffee. ] rode for miles trro71gb
vast gardens Of green bushes shining out
against TINS background Of red Here the
men were p4owlng. using sull-y pl0ws. drawn
by oxen; there they were hoeing and fur
ther on they were picking the coffee
passed by clear1ngs where the woods had
been cut down and new plants were heinz
set out amid stumps
Iney were put in little holes and were
shaded with leaves and sticks from the fierce
rays OF the sun. In many places Z could
see the homes Of the laborers. Each plan
tauon mas rs own settlement or village
Many OF these were Of red adobe huts with
roofs OF red tiles BY and By we came 10
the station OF Ribeirao Preto. from where /
went out 20 see the estate. The Dumont
company has It's own railway lire extending
from Ribeirao Preto TO the plantation. and
coffee fields covering all parts Of the great
farm There are altogether over so miles OF
track
\ Journey Through a Coffee Garden.
suppose we take one Of the cars and ride
out over the fields. The engine carries US
I'd hill and down through a great coffee
garden In front and behind US as far as
we can see are long lines Of green bushes.
There are bushes 10 the right and TO the left
All are coffee trees. ana most Of them are
laden with coffee Notice the plants in that
field over there. They are new trees and
have been set out only a year. They are
not as high as your knee. The smaller plants
farther ON covered with sticks have been
In the ground only a month. The bearing
trees are from ten 10 fifteen feet high
There is no green in nature more beauti-
tul than that OF the coffee trees The leaves
seem TO have been vanished. and the green
shows out against the background Of red
soil The plants are first grown in uur-
hey Do
carefully cultivated and hoed for three
years and it is not until the fourth year
that the first crop is gathered. The great
est care is taken in selecting the seed and
Of recent years the government has been
constructing the various varieties lust as
we cross-breed our corn and our cotton TO
Picking the Coffee.
Now we have reached a part OF the plan
tation where they are picking the coffee.
The trees are hushy The branches begin
at the ground and the trees reach twice
high our heads. The branches are COW
cred with green leaves and they have Tipe.
red coffee berries close ct the base Of the
leaves The berries look like red cherries.
and hey are almost as soft We get off OF
the train and walk about with the pickers.
We taste the berries They have the flavor
Of coffee. We bite off the pulp. and find
that each large cherry has two coffee beans
or seeds inside IT, These are oval in shape
and flat one side. The flat sides touch
each other. forming little ban OF seed
inside the GERRY There are NClaller cher
ries at the ends Of the branches Some OF
these have only one round seed inside them.
Those seeds form the Mocha coffee OF COM
merce.
After the picking. the berries are car
ried on the train 20 the drying floors and
10 the factories. The coffee as it comes
from the tree is still inside the cherries
The beans or seeds constitute the coffee OF {
commerce. and their treatment has scarcely ,
begun They have TO go through vast d
deal Of machinery to preEare them for use
They have 20 be taken out Of the pulp They
have TO be dried. skinned and polished and
through mi
grade them for the market They have
to be sorted and bagged and shipped to
the 9crts.