OCTOE£R I, 1883,] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



23^ 



try, where the consumptions will keep always ahead of 

 the productions. 



7th Q.— Would vine growing pay, selling the grapes 

 and not making wine with them ? 



Vine growing pays, and will continue to pay on a bas 

 of 7-lOths to S-lOths for the vine grower, aud2-10th5to 

 3-lOths for the wine maker. Winemakers are generally wine 

 merchants who organize distilleries aud wineries, such as 

 there are many already in Napa aud Sonoma -valleys; 

 Their main object is to make certain types of wines to 

 seU imder determined brands. If they buy wine from 

 farmers who make it themselves, they find so many dif- 

 ierent qualities, on account of the manner in which each 

 understands fermentation, that it becomes a difficult task 

 to blend all those products, aud make out of it a uni- 

 form brand of their own. But when they buy the grapes 

 aud make the wine themselves, in the tii-st place they 

 find it more profitable, and then they can regulate fer- 

 mentation in the way they please; and it is only by such 

 method that they can attain that uniformity of quality 

 which is so indispensable to then- trade. This accounts fos 

 their desire to buy gi'apes, even if they have to pay 8-lOthr 

 of the whole profit that can be expected from both vine 

 growing aud wine making. This saves to the vine grower 

 the large expenses of winery, distillery,>huge cellars, coop- 

 erage, additional care and risks, especially the one to 

 have the wiue turning sour before delivery. By doing 

 both, wine growing and wiue making one is expected 

 to nett from S120 to §130 per acre but it is much safer 

 to be satisfied with glOO to SI 10 nett per acre, getting rid 

 thereby of all those large outlays and risks. 



Si'A Q- Does the raisin industry succeed, aud are the 

 prospects as good as wine 'i 



Table gra])es briug about SIO per ton : but out of one 

 acre you may not expect more than 3 to 4 tons to the 

 acre of raisins good to be boxed. Tlie remaining '2 or 3 

 tons will have to be sold to the wine maker, who will 

 pay less, as the picked raisins that would make ^.ood 

 wiue are gone. Then will come the cost of the boxes, the 

 hand work, the packing, the dehvery, and, finally, it will be 

 more difficult to sell raisins to merchants on time, mostly, 

 than to sell the grapes to a wme malter who willpay cash. 

 To resume all that is said above, I would suggest the 

 exi)loitation of about 500 acres of land. 100 for farm- 

 ing purposes and -100 to be planted in vineyards, and I 

 would pay about SoO per acre for the land. The whole 

 cost to maturity would be about as follows: — 

 500 acres of land at S50 per acre §25,000 

 Bams and residence ... . . 4,000 



Implements, horses, mules, cows, harness, 



seeds, food 1st year ... ... 4,000 



Cultivation 1st year on 400 acres vine- 

 yards ... ... ... 11,600 



Do 2nd do do ... 8.320 



Do 3rd do do .. 9,800 



Do 4th do do ... 6,200 



Supei-inteudent 1 years at S'3,000 per 

 annum ... ... ... 12,000 



SS0,S20 

 Keceii)ts, beginning with the 4tli yeai'. — 

 4th year 400 acres vineyards and 100 

 acres farming ... ... §25,000 



5th do do do .. 35,000 



Cth do and succeeding ones each 40,000 



$100,000 

 Iss xielttr from the above that, with the crop of the 

 6th year, all the onlays of the first four years would 

 he all paid up, leaving besides a handsome surplus on 

 hand of §15,001) to $20,000, and the succeedingyears would 

 nett an average of $40,000 each. It should be remembered 

 that a vineyard when in full bearing is good to last 

 more than a century ; also that by planting only ijlujUo- 

 xera-proof ctUtiuffs there is no fe.ar to be had of the 

 o)itii scoiirqe wliicli has ever been known to kill vines absol- 

 uteiy. All other known diseases of the vine are at the 

 surface, on the leaves mostly, and they can be easily 

 coped with when they are present without much of ex- 

 jjense, and without serious loss to the crop. 



Should you intend to do anything in this matter for 

 the coming seasou, I would suggest you to lose no time about 

 it, if you want to enjoy the prices of tliis year. Unless 

 tU^ Jaui J9 ready to begiu work by OvtPber Qi Jfoyeni' 



ber next, it would postpone operations for one year, and 

 all the probabiUties are that the lands -n-ill be much 

 liigher than now, after the next crop will be in. The 

 selection of the land, the negotiations, inspection of title, 

 contracts &c., would absorb fully two months' time, and 

 for all those reasons I think no time should be lost. 



At all events, should you conclude to engage in such 

 an eutei-prise, you will make an investment as sound, 

 sure and profitable as can be desired, for the reason that 

 the laud by itself, even if not put under cultivation, will 

 rise in value from 10 per cent to 15 per cent per annum 

 on its present valuation, aud will contiuue to do so for 

 many years to come until \-ineland3 reach the highest prices 

 at which they are selling in Europe, 



San Francisco, May 31st, 1883. 



BRAZIL COFFEE CROPS, AND THE TKUIH 

 ABOUT BRAZIL. 



From Messrs. Kern, Hayn & Co.'s Reports we gather 

 that from both Rio aud Santos the exports for the 

 season which ended on 30th June exceeded all pre- 

 vious figures. We give the comparison for three years- 

 1880-81. 1881-82. 1SS2-83, 



tons. tons. tons. 



Rio ... 254,399 228,286 265,291 



Santos ... 71,117 90,041 108,532 



Total... 32.5,516 313,327 373,823 



The aggregate for last season is equal to 7,476,460 cwt. 

 But crops very considerably smaller are anticipated 

 for both districts in the present seasou. 



The interesting statement by a Brazilian, which we 

 copied on page 216 from the India Mercanj, guve valu- 

 able facts respecting the great impetus given to coffee 

 cultivation in the South Americau empire by the 

 command of slave labour, and the extension of rail- 

 way facilities to an extent which is loadiug the country 

 with debt. But the writer is wrong about the effects 

 of over-extension. 



HAYTI COFFEE. 



"Up to ten or twelve years ago," says the Bos. 

 ton Commercial Bulletin, " Boston furnished a very 

 good market for Hayti ooflee. The giowers, how- 

 ever, exorcised no care in handing it and sent it to 

 the market ungraded and uncleaued, and the demand 

 iu consequence gradually fell vS. Owing to the enorm- 

 ously increasing production of Rio, its place was 

 easily tilled by this cheap coffee, and those consumers 

 who preferred a mild coffee could obtain Maraoaibos 

 Savanillas aud Bogotas, though at higher prices! 

 While tho trade wiih the United States in this coffee 

 fell off, that with Europe increased, aud it is one of 

 the principal coffees used in France and Germany, the 

 people there not being so exacting as regards grading 

 aud cleaning as are Americans. These shipments are 

 made direct from Hayti to Europe, and also by way 

 of New York, where sometimes a cargo finds a pur- 

 chaser, the coffee being very well adapted for mixing 

 with Maraoaibos and Javas. This was, in fact, one 

 of its principal use.a, when imported extensively' into 

 this country. The coffee itself has a mild, pleasant 

 flavor, which, wiih its cheapness, would commend it 

 to many coffee drinkers if it were properly cleaned 

 and graded. A firm iu this city prominent in the 

 West India trade, and which shipped large quantities 

 of the coffee to Europe,, resolved to try the expeii. 

 ment of cleaning and grading it for the Americau 

 market, and for this purpose furnished their establish, 

 ment at East Boston with the proper machinery about 

 a year ago. The coffee is graded into Nos, 1, 2, and 

 3, aud peaberry, refuse aud black. The experiment 

 proved a success though there is cousiderabia waste 

 in cleaning,"— ifio JSIcks, 



