298 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1882^ 



Not a bad result, we shoiild say, after fully provid- 

 ing for support of ownier's family, amortization of 

 slaves, &c. The great question, of course, is, wa.s the 

 establishment free of debt except to the capital of 

 the owner? If si) that owner might be called pros- 

 perous, provided a slave owner can ever know what 

 true prosperity is. Our readers interested in the 

 subject can make deductions from the rest of the 

 figures, such as we have attempted to found on the 

 first set. In the second case the interest on capital 

 was down to .3 '09 percent ; then conies 3'46 : 1-88; 

 4'84 ; 3'7'2 ; 7'41 ; and in the last exceptional case 

 11 '92, or nearly 12 per cent. With refei'ence to the 

 number of trees to the acre, we take the second 

 f state with 1,400 acres of land, only 40 per cent of 

 which is in cultivation, some of it with " other pro- 

 ducts than " coffee. Let us take 500 acres as bear- 

 ing tlie 400,000 trees (old and new), and we get 

 in this case the (for Brazil) high average of 800 trees 

 per acre. Perhaps it may be owing to the number 

 of old trees in this case that 400,000 gave only 88,132 

 kilograms, against 360,000 for 300,000 trees in the first 

 case. In the third case we have 35 per cent (let us say 

 one-third) of 1,. 392 acres = in I'ound numbers 400 acres, 

 bearing .300,000 coffee trees. The average in this case 

 (like the last one, exaggerated, we suspect) is 750 trees 

 to an acre. This Sao Paulo plantation yielded only 

 44,061 kilograms of coffee from 300,000 trees, or 

 about 110 kilograms per acre, a poor result for the 

 district of which Santos is the port. But probably 

 a gi-eat many of the coffee trees were young. In the 

 fourth case '200,000 trees are credited to about 300 

 acres, or at the rate of 666 trees to the acre. Even 

 this is too high. The round numbers given for coffee 

 trees look suspicious. The Minas Geraes estate gave 

 the worst result of all, only 1'88 per cent on capital. 

 A crop of 73,435 kilos in this case was somewliat 

 over one-tliird of a kilo per tree, or 183J kUos per 

 acre. The e([uivalent in English pounds per acre is 

 401 lb. Of the fifth estate it said that 180 acres 

 are in maize and beans and '24 in mandioca 

 (cassava), while 70 per cent of the whole 1,900 

 acres is in pasture and " worn out " lands. Coffee 

 trees numbered at 140,000 on 380 acres (468i trees 

 to the acre) gave 52,000 kilos of coffee (1.36 kilos 

 or 299 lb. to the acre). The land in this case is valued 

 at only £1,600, or £300 only in excess of the interest 

 at 10 per cent of the whole establishment, the 55 

 slaves being valued at much more than the land. 

 In the case of the sixth estate we have it expressly 

 stated that out of a total of 250,000 trees only 150,000 

 are productive, the others Ijeing young. The trees 

 would seem to be at the rate of about 625 per acre, 

 but no ndi.ilile calculation can be made. It will be 

 seen that yams and ria; are grown iu the 4 per cent 

 of swampy land on this estate. In the case of No. 

 VII, we are asked to believe, which we camiot, that 

 SOO acres bear 250,000 trees ; but 97,500 kilos of 

 coffee from 300 acres is at the rate of 325 kilos or 

 715 lb. per acre. To shew how essentially different 

 the conditions in Brazil are from those iu Ceylon, we 

 need only attract attention to the note attached to 

 this case, "Unused land 57 per cent of whole area. " 

 On most estates in Ceylon every inch has been utilized. 

 In the 8th and last case 30 per cent out of 195 acres 

 of land are unused, and as "other products" were 

 sold we suppose we may take 120 acres as bearing the 

 1'20,000 trees mentioned. As this would be at the 

 rate of 1,000 trees per acre, there can be no doubt 

 that the round number for trees is grossly exaggei'ated. 

 the yield of 90,900 kilos from 120 acres would be 

 equal to 757A kilos or 1 ,6731b. (or 15 cwt. ) per acre ! The 

 trees were probably scattered over a considerably larger 

 area than r20 acres. Altogether the statements (correct 

 enough, probably, as to number of slaves and some 

 other details) can only be taken as approximations in 



regard to coffee bushes and yield per acre of clean 

 coffee. Still the figures will be interesting to our 

 readers as affording a glimpse of the conditions under 

 which the Brazilians compete with us in the production 

 of coffee. The chief differences are the large areas of 

 laud at the disposal of planters and the permanently 

 bound labour force. But, if all were known about 

 money borrowed, deaths and running away of slaves, 

 \vith the shadow of impending emancipation, and no 

 prospect of labour in substitution, it might be seen 

 that the Brazilian planters are not normally lictter off 

 than their brethren in Ceylon. Fungus, grub .and bad 

 seasons have sorely tried us, it is true ; but there are 

 insect and fungoid plagues in Brazil also, which may 

 be at tJie worst as our troubles abate and prosperity 

 returns to the land where coffee is and always has 

 been grown by means of free labour. \'\'e have, at 

 least, no emancipation measure to fear : and no utter 

 failure of labour supply impending. 



BRAZILIAN COFFEE. 



(From the Anglo-Brazilian Times.) 

 In cormection with the present or future of coffee in 

 Brazil the question of the cost of its production has ex- 

 treme importance. By the kindness of the German Oonsul- 

 General of this city we are enabled to give extracts from 

 returns, furnished by the proprietors, for the actual working 

 of several importaut plantations in Bio de .Janeiro, San 

 Paulo, and Minas Geraes, situated not far from a rail- 

 way :— 



I. 

 Coffee plantation iu the province of Eio de Janeiro, 

 with 700 alqueires (of about G'T acres each) of land, of 

 which 200 are planted, 200 "tired," 80 in pasture, 20 vir- 

 gin forest for coffee, and 200 "cold" land. 



Mils. 

 Value of plantation, with slaves, etc. ... 6^4,000 



194,000 



180,000 

 50,000 

 50,000 



60,000 

 40,000 

 30,fKXI 

 30,000 



viz. Laud (about 4,700 acres) 



230 slaves, value, 280,000 mils, viz: 



150 field hands at 1,200 mils... 



25 artizans at 2,000 mils. 



30 ser\'ants and 25, sick 



300,000 coffee trees, 6—30 years old, at 



200 reis 

 Buildings, etc. 

 Terraces 



Machines, implements, cattle, etc. 

 Transport, Freight, Coimnission, etc., per 10 kilos, 849 

 reis per kilo, viz ; 



Keis. 

 Transport to Dom Pedro II. railway 



station of Sapucaia ... ... 300 



Freight to Eio ... ... 388 



Hire of .sacks ... ... ... 20 



Transport in Rio ... ... ... 21 



3 per cent, commission on 4 mils ... 120 



Expense ; 118,855 mils viz : Mils. 



10 per cent, interest on capital ... 36,400 



Amortization of lanils Is 3d in 36 years 

 Amortization of coffee, 36 years 

 Amortization of buildings, 36 years 

 Amortization of terraces, 36 years 

 10 per cent, on 01,OliO mils ... ... 910 



Amortization of marliines, 15 years ... 475 



Amortization of slaves, 10 years ... 15,970 



Jerked beef, clothing, etc. ... 20,000 



Salary of Administrator, etc. ... ... 13,000 



Expeuces of owner's family ... ... 5,000 



Receipt : 360,000 kilograms of coffee at 4 mils, per 10 kilo- 

 grams, 144,000 mils, deducting from which 849 reis per 

 10 kilos, for transport commission, etc., there remains net 

 113,436 mils., or 5,421 mils, less than the above expense, 

 thereby reducing the interest on the capital to 9.14 per cent. 

 II. 

 Another return, in rc<:ard to a Rio de Janeiro planta- 

 tion of 120 alqueires, or 1,400 acres of land, valued as 

 80,000 mils, having 150,000 new trees and 250,000 old ones, 

 worked with 124 slaves, 8 of whom were domestics, gives 



