Evening star., 1915-11-07
copyright, 1915. by Frank G. carpentet.s
SAC PAULO.

SAC PAULO.
E0HE worlds largest coffee planta-
tions are to be found here in Bra
III zil This country has the richest
q coffee soil of the world. 1t out
ranks all other lands in this crop. as the
United States outranks all others in cot
ton. Its coffee areas are unlimited IL
has now less than 100000 acres under
such cultivat on, and this is less than one
four -hundredth of the tillable land IN Bra
I'll Much of the remainder will not raise
coffee, but it is safe to say that ten acres
more could be planted for every one that Is
now titled and that the coffee trees might
be multiplied indefinitely At present the
trees in bearing number more than 1.320.-
100000, and they occupy space about
one-fifth the size of Ohio. They cover, all
told. less ground than Massachusetts.
When it is remembered that Brazil would
make 400 states as big as Massachusetts.
one gets some idea of the coffee areas and
the possibilities.
The best coffee bearing states are
four. They are Sac Paulo. Minas Ge-
raes Rio de Janeiro and Espirito
Santo. They have an area about ten times
the size of Ohio. and only one-fftieth Of
their lands are in coffee. They lie in the
center of Brazil and are largely made up
of highlands. The best plantations lie at
from 1900 to 5000 feet above the sea.
OF all the cotree states, Sac Paulo
leads. 1t has more than half of the
coffee trees of Brazil. occupying an
area of more than two and one-half
in
vested capital amounting to more than
$500, 0,000,0 900. Sac Paulo has more than
$1,000 coffee plantations, and upward
of 1000 of these have each 100000 or
more trees. The trees of some of the
plantations run into the millions, and
one which l have visited has more than
100000 trees. with 100000 acres under
cultivation. There is another planta-
tion that contains 100000 acres, and
Monte Allegro, one of the estates of
Francisco Schmidt. has 10000 acres, of
which about 10000 are devoted to one
m lion coffee trees of the Bourbon vari-
ETY. They produce something like SIX
million punds of coffee every year. On
that estate there are drying grounds
covered 18th tiles which have an area
of something like fifty acres, and the
cleaning and grading machinery has
been imported from England. The ami
mails on the plantation include thou
sand horses and mules. and over three
thousand cattle. The laborers make a
tenant houses number 1900. In addi-
tion to this estate Francisco Schmidt
has about twenty others scattered here
and there throughout the coffee-rais-
ing area. He has altogether millions
of trees and is the coffee king of the
world. He is a German who started
a poor boy, and is now rich beyond the
dreams of avarice.
Another big plantation belongs to the
Barao Geraldio de Renzede. 1t is forty
miles long and thirty miles wide, and
connected with the house is rose
garden which is said to have 500 vari-
cites. The Fazenda Santa Thereza has
more than a million coffee trees. and
Its annual crop is about 3.G00. 009 rounds.
The Guatapara estate has almost 2,OO0,-
600 trees. 1t is lighted by electricity,
and the coffee berries are carried to
the drying grounds on canals and rail-
roads
Nearly all these large plantations are
equipped with railroads. and many have
machinery driven-by electricity. Some
have model settlements for their en-
pioyes. including schools for the chill
dren and hospitals for the sick. Many
of the owners have stock farms con-
nected with their coffee lands. Some
live in beautiful houses equipped with
all the luxuries and conveniences of
modern city life.
/ wish I could show you the Dumont
coffee fazenda. This is one of the fin
est coffee estates of the world. 1t lies
more than three hundred miles inland
from this town of Sac Paulo. 1t is
about twelve miles from Ribeirao Pre-
20 and in the center of one of the rich
est coffee growing regions of Brazil.
The estate was originally founded by
Dumont. the father of Santos Dumont,
the famous aviator. 1t is now Brit
1sh concern. operated with capital from
England, and its profits in some years
are as much Of 100000
In going to the Dumont faZenda I
passed through hundreds of thousands
of acres devoted to coffee. / went by
plantation after plantation where
gangs of Italian men and women were
at work picking the berries and by
vast cement floors upon which great