May I, 1883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



907 



would take their hammocks and sleep aback, in order to 

 see the blossom to advantage, and make an estimate of the 

 probable extent of crop. 



The large estates hail some five or sL\ hundred acres in 

 coffee, divided into fields of ten acres each, separated by- 

 intervals called ■' alleys." These being mostly planted with 

 fruit trees were called fruit-alleys. Kach field had the 

 number of trees it contained painted on a board at one 

 corner of the field; so that, to judge the extent of the 

 " blossom," you had to decide what was the average to bo 

 expected from each tree, and then multiply it by the 

 number of trees, modifyiiij; it by circumstances, some fields 

 having more young trees than others some more " water 

 sprouts " from neglect in pruning, some being injured from 

 neglect in weeding. It required considerable experience 

 and practice to make a correct estimate. If the blossom 

 was a fine one, you might see people driving into town in 

 triumph wa\-ing branches of coffee trees, white with the 

 jasmiue-hke flowers. 



But there was still uncertainty ; the blossomdid not always 

 " set " as it was termed, or form fruit ; or from some cause, 

 the young fruit would drop, and there would be great dis- 

 appointment. 



If all went well, and the crop began to ripen, the busy 

 time of the coifee estate commenced. All hands were sent 

 aback to pick coft'ee and everybody tliat could be mus- 

 tered was cmxjloyed in getting in the harvest before it fell 

 from the trees. Horses were turned out to graze, that 

 the grooms might pick coffee instead of cutting grass: 

 managers and attorneys had to diminish thenmnber of their 

 attendants ns much as possible, and every effort was made 

 to secure the crop, the reward of all theii- soil. 



There was much competition among the neighkom-ing 

 estates, as to which should make the largest crop. As soon 

 as 100,0001b. was gathered in, a flag was hoisted at the 

 top of the logic, and great were the ett'ort to be the fast to 

 ''hoist the flag. " The people, too, shared the excitement and 

 it was a cheerful sight of an afternoon, to witness the re- 

 turn of the pickers from aback ; bateau after bateau would 

 be seen racing home in the canal, each loaded with baskets 

 of fresh jricked coffee, which looked like red gooseberries. 

 On reaching the builtUngs, the coffee was carried up into 

 the loft over the pulping-mill. Here it was measured. 

 The coffee, as it was brought in, was poured into a square 

 box which held as much gi'een coffee as would yield 141b. 

 of clean coffee when divested of its pulp. A tally of the 

 number of boxes was kept by an overseer and each per- 

 son bringing in a boxful received a ticket. 



From this upper floor the coffee was sent down a spout 

 or shoot to the mill, where it was divested of its outer 

 husk or pulp, which fell in one place, while the beans 

 fell m another. The pulp was canied away and thro\vu 

 in a heap where it soon fennented, and became most 

 offensive to the neighbourhood far worse than the 

 " lees nuis.ance". The beans, divested of the pulp, fell 

 into a brick gutter, sloping dovm to the wash pit. This 

 was a square brick cistern, about 5 feet deep, into which 

 water flowed in at one end and out at the other. Here 

 the coffee was washed, being hauledbackwardsaudforwards by 

 a kmd of wooden rake. This washing cleaned the beans 

 from tlie slimy juice adhering to them, and they were then 

 taken out and spread over the " di-oogheric," a raised and 

 tUed pavement sometimes called the " barbacot " or 

 " plankier " where they were diied in the sun, and were 

 then earned up to the logic, to be stored till t)ie pickiu.' 

 of the crop w;is finished. There were generally two crops 

 in a year. 



If the crop was large, great care had to he taken th.at 

 the coffee m the logic did not get heated, and thus spoilt. 

 To prevent this, it was spread as thinly as possible and 

 constantly turned by wooden shovels day and night. Largo 

 as the coffee logics were— many of them over 100 feet 

 long— when the coffee was plentiful there was danger of 

 its getting heated, and extra buildings had to bo used to 

 house some of the crop. Occasionally managers and at- 

 torneys had to submit to having some •f their rooms 

 used for this purpose. 



When the picking was over, the crop had to bo 

 prepared for shipment, which was a somewhat tedi- 

 ous process, requiring a good deal of care and at- 

 tention. It had first to be husked and deprivi d of 

 the •• jiarehment skin" which surrounded each beau. 

 For this purpose it was first spread out on the 

 diooghcric and diied iu the sun till it became quite 



hot, and the outer skin crisp and brittle. It was then 

 taken to the " stamping-mill" and thrown into circular 

 trough about 3 feet deep and a foot wide, and subjected 

 to the pressure of two heavy wooden rollers, a foot wide 

 six feet iu diameter which were kept revolving by mules'. 

 This process broke the crisp outer skin, which was bluwii 

 away by the winnowing machine Uke chaft', leaving the 

 coft'ee quite clean and fit for use. It had however to 

 undergo fm-ther manipulation, as the different qualities 

 had to be sorted and shipped separately. Tliis took a good 

 deal of time, as every single bean had to be separated by 

 hand. This was done by women who sat down on tlie floor 

 of the logie in long hues, each havmg her allotted task 

 before her in a sieve. The coft'ee was carefully hand- 

 picked, the good beans being put into one calabash, those 

 broken into another, and the inferior discoloured beans 

 (the effect of "heating") into a third calabash to be 

 thrown away. 



The " broken coft'ee" was as good as the " whole" iu 

 quality, but inferior in appearance, and was called "triage" 

 by the Loudon brokers, audsold^ta lower price. There 

 was always a proportion of pearl coffee in every crop, and 

 this was considei-ed the best of all. When a berry instead 

 of having two beans, had only one, it took a rounded 

 foiTu instead of being flat on one side, as usual ; this 

 was the so-called pearl-coft'ee. If the proportion of pearl- 

 coffee was considerable, it was separated from the rest 

 and shipped by itself. It sold high iu the London mark- 

 et, fetching VlO/ per cwt. when other coft'ee sold for 80/ 

 or Si)/. But the quantity of pearl-coffee shipped was not 

 gi-eat. 



The coft'ee when cleaned and prepared for shipment was 

 put away in a large aii--tight compartment, called the coffee 

 chest, which was of sufficient .dimensions to hold the whole 

 crop ; for this had to be kept on hand until the 

 ship that was to take it arrived. These coffee-chests were 

 built of dark wood and were kept carefully polished ; for 

 the planters were very proud of them. They were made 

 perfectly air-tight, not only at the sides but at the top 

 also. Wlien the coffee was wanted for shipment it was 

 taken out of the chest and put into tierces or bags. 



Coffee was more or less injm-ed on the passage home 

 by the steam from the sugar on board, and it was desir- 

 able to ship it, if possible, in a vessel loaded entirely 

 wnth coffee, or at least, having no sugai' on board. A 

 small vessel came here once fi-om Jersey loaded entirely 

 with potatoes in bulk ; these were readily disposed of, and 

 the ship loaded home with coffee. 



The freight of coffee was liigher than sugar, it being 

 lighter ; when the freight of sugar was 3/ per cwt., coffee 

 paid 4/. 



Berbice coffee ranked high iu the market and was bought 

 to mix with Jamaica coffee, wliicli being gi'owu on the 

 mountains, was more deUcate in flavour than that fi-om 

 Berbice but not nearly so strong. 



That particular quality is stjll called "Berbice coffee" 

 in the shops iu London, though none has been shipped from 

 Berbice for twenty or thirty years. 



The cessation of the coft'ee cultivation has been a great 

 social loss to Berbice, as reducing the number of the educ- 

 ated class. Each estate had not only a manager, but by 

 law was obliged to have a white overseer for every hundred 

 negroes. But it was impossible to continue the cultiv- 

 ation under the free system without loss. This the Dutch- 

 men very soon discovered, and they sold theii- estates and 

 cleared out to a man. The free system did not suit their 

 ideas at all, any more than it does that of their country- 

 men, the Boers, in South Africa. 



There were several reasons for this, but the prin- 

 cipal oue was, that the negi-oes, when entirely free 

 would not pick the crop. At first they would do a 

 little. For instance a woman would go aback and 

 bring in a basket of coffee about l> o'clock, for which 

 she got a guilder. Then urged to go ami pick a second or 

 third basket, which could easily be done, and was done 

 under the coercive .sy.stem, the answer was "Xo. I am not 

 inclined to work any more to-day. I have earned my 

 guilder anil am ,s,itisfied." The eonseeiuence was (bat half 

 the crop fell from the trees and was lost ; for, when once 

 ripe, the berry does not remain long on the trees. W hen 

 the ne-;roes bought land, and lived in their own houses, 

 the coffee estates ,i;ot none of their labour, for it all' 

 whet to tho sugar estates, where they preferred going, 

 when disijoscd to work for money wages. They showed a 



