The mirror., 1922-06-22
COFFEE IS KING
CONTINUED from page u

~
for farming, where the soil is not right for
the coffee tree.
On the lower slopes of the hills or on
the lowlands, standing out in marked con-
trast with the green coffee trees, are the
white buildings of the fazendas-great,
substantial stone and stucco manor houses,
with wide verandas and large windows,
surrounded by gardens filled with palm,
and banana, and orange, and mango trees;
the extensive outbuildings, for the stables
and for the machinery, for the laborers
and for the superintendent, being placed at
respectful distance from the manor house.
All these Brazilian fazendas have
peculiar CHAIRMAN appearance of solidar-
ity, of comfort, of peace, and of prosperity
AS they lie there, surrounded by the
wealth of their coffee trees, with cattle
grazing on the neighboring fields, and
with ever-busy, picturesque Italian la
borers caring for the precious crop, whose
market prices are quoted daily in all the
important papers throughout the civilized
world.
The coffee trees on Brazilian planta-
tion begin to bear in from two to four
years after they have been removed from
the nurseries, where they grow in wicker
baskets, under shade. The fruit, when
ripe, is red, and resembles a small cherry,
or cranberry in general appearance. The
coffee which we see in the grocery store is
the seed of this coffee berry.
Normally each berry contains two seeds,
fiat on one side and rounded on the other,
the fiat sides being together. The seeds
are imbedded in a sticky, whitish pulp,
and are further themselves surrounded by
two envelopes.
Before the coffee bean can be put upon
the market the outer covering, the pulp,
and the two inner coverings must be re-
moved. 1t is customary to classify the
methods of preparing coffee for market
into the wet and the dry. They are alike
after certain stage, and there is dis
merits of the two in producing the best
coffee. In the dry process the berries are
dried before the pulp is removed and then
outer covering, pulp, and inner coverings
are removed together In the wet process
the pulp is first removed in water, and the
drying and removal of the inner envelopes
come later. There is no absolutely hard
and fast rule, invariably followed on all
fazendas alike, in the preparation for mar
ket of the coffee beans.
A considerable water supply and care
fully planned system of small canals and
of basins is needed in the wet method,
and it is partly for this reason, as well as
because of the preference of some fazen-
deiros for the dry method, that the wet
method is not everywhere in use.
The harvest begins in May and lasts
into August, or even September. This is
the dry season, so that the weather cond-
tions are very favorable, not only for the
harvest itself, but for drying and trans
porting the crop after it has been gathered.
In picking the coffee, the boughs are pulled
down with the left hand and held at the
outer end, while the right hand is run
along the bough from the base to the tip,
thus stripping off the berries as we'll as
many leaves and twigs. For the upper
branches rude step-ladders are used
The usual method of harvesting is to
let the berries, twigs, etc., fall directly on
the ground, where they are later raked
together with wire rakes with rounded
teeth, and the first rough sorting is made.
The next stage is winnowing by means
of wire sieve, the hand being used to
pick out the twigs and leaves and the
wind blowing away good deal of the
dust as the contents of the sieve are
thrown up into the air and caught again