250 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [October i, 1885. 



the scorching effects of the suu. Kain gives the 

 plauter no concern ; for the terra roxa and the terra 

 area, Khen^ this method of p'antiiig is usually practised, 

 is ^0 porous that the water cannot remain long 

 Knoii';h lu the pits to cause the roots to rot. In this 

 way no more than 100 or iL'O pits can he made and 

 filled oil a day. When no nmdas are to be had, the 

 plants havf to he reared direct from seed sown. But 

 theu Vnini 5 to 8 btans are planted close to each 

 other in a shallow pit made by hand or with the 

 enxiida, coiisequcutly the direct opposite of the method 

 employed oo i^ome fazendas in the Oantagallo (for 

 inttau'ce, those of the Viscondis de S. Clement and 

 Nova Friburgo) ; which is to plant the beans roimd a 

 little mound which is afterwards levelled down les-s 

 or mure by the rains. 



If the ijtans on one spot all grow, at the end of 

 from 7 to 10 months so many are pulled up, that 

 only throe or four of the most vigorous plants remain 

 standing. The seedlings weeded out are then used 

 as mudas to fid up the vacant spots or falhas. The 

 usual plaMtiug is September, October and November, 

 although gardens may be planted on through January 

 and February. Several fazoudeiros, however, assured 

 me that transplanting may be done at any season of 

 the year, provi led it is made a rule to remove 

 uninjured, that is to say, unlopped seedlings in the 

 rainy !ei^on only, and not against the wiuter or 

 dry season. The mudas stumps can stand the drought 

 better, aiid recover their vigour after a few days' 

 rain. It is needless to observe that this method of 

 planting does not produce Brazil single-trunked coffee- 

 tieLS. such as are almost universal in Java, but very 

 wide-spreading coffee shrubs, that is to say, a brood 

 of 8, 10, or 12 sleuder stems branching out from the 

 mudas stump. Old cafesaes seen from a distance, 

 struck me as presenting a strong resemblance to plant- 

 ations of huge inverted besoms, all the more because 

 the protracted drought of 1^83 (from April to Sept- 

 ember) had exerted its parching intluence everywhere, 

 but especially on the soalheiro plantations, I have 

 seen gardens almost quite denuded of foliage, the 

 blossoms being dried on the twigs. The thicker and 

 fuller the coffee-shrub grows, the better. In the 

 more fertile lands of the Santos zone, therefore, four 

 mudas are generally planted instead of tl^o or three, 

 as is customary in the Rio zone. I retain a lively 

 recollection of a Pauli.st fazendeiro, who, attempting 

 in my presence to overcrow a Rio coffee. planter, told 

 him, that one coffee-shrub in the Santos zone is fully 

 equal to a bouquet of three coffee-shrubs from the 

 Rio zone. Although the Rio gentleman held his peace 

 and thus tacitly owned himself defeated in some 

 degree, yet the simile was a trifle too. . . . Paulistic. 

 Without" fear of exaggerating, however, we may say 

 that the coffee-shrub in the Santos zone is much 

 larger than the coffee-shrub in the Kio zone, besides 

 being almost as productive.* 



The spaces left between the plants are not uniform 

 evervwheie. According to differences of soil, to the 

 ph.\sie.il aiipect of the estate and its height above 

 thi) eea, planters in the Kin zone generally leave 

 si'.aoes of V2 by 12, la by \i, li by li. end here 

 and there oveu 15 by 18 paluios; while in the Santos 

 Ecne thfi spaces arc 14 by 1-i, 16 by 15, and by 

 Viv of experiment during the last 3 or 4 years, 

 Botnelmes IG by 16, 18 by 18, and even 20 by 20 

 palmos. One canuct, however, without fear of con- 

 tradiction, venture the general statement that as to 

 the former ^nnp the average space between the plants 

 i« 12 by ll palmos ; that is to say, 2(14 by 3a>8 

 meters. While in the latter it does not exceed 15 by 



1 .-, : that is to say. 3'30 by ^30 meters.f 



» Accordmg to the Statistics of coffee-planting, the 

 remit is even more favourable to the Santos zone; 

 but we must not forget in comparing them, that 

 c. ffee-growing in the Kio zone has been carried on 

 for a long time, while in the Santos zone it com- 

 nii need cjuite recently. 

 1 1 Khidelaud foot =-0-3130165 meters. 

 \ ,. rood =- 12 Kb. feet == 3-"67358 meter». 



X EngUih (oot mfOZOi'9'Z njetew, 



But the coffee-shrub attains such an immense size 

 by the time it reaches its 10th or 12th year, that it 

 must be admitted that those spaces are by no means 

 too large. Trees yielding shade are unknown in 

 Brazil. It is true that at one time an experiment 

 was made in the Serra Abaixo to protect the cafesaes 

 situated less than 100 meters above the level from 

 the scorching heat of the sun, by planting the 

 Angico.* But it never went further than an experiment. 

 Considering the climate, I think the planters have 

 done right in banishing shady trees from their cafesaes. 

 For the coffee-bean ripens during the winter or dry 

 season, at which time the temperature is so low that 

 the slaves that work in the gardens are dressed in 

 baize. No groves are planted anywhere to break the 

 force of the wind, although many places in both zones 

 suftVr from tufaves or violent gusts. The diggiug of 

 the gardens is considered, even in Brazil, the principal 

 part of the tillage: Yet it is vei:y much neglected 

 in the Rio zone, a fact which is easily explained. 



Firstly, there is the dread of landslips, the natural 

 consequence of a too deep or frequent loosening of 

 the soil on those steep, unterraced slopes. 



But the real cause of the neglect lies in the want 

 of labourers. During the period when prices were 

 high, the new plantations formed were in excess of 

 available hands to work them ; and this could no 

 longer be redressed by the purchase of slaves, on 

 account of the high import duties. 



A slave of the ro(;a, that is to say, a slave employed 

 in fiehhvork, ought only to keep and dress (in the 

 Rio zone) a maximum number of 4,500, or at the 

 utmost, 5,000 trees ; seeing that, besides maintaining 

 the roads and bridges, he has to attend to the plant- 

 ing of maize, beans (filaoes), mandioc, batatas, in 

 short, all that is needed on a fazenda for the con- 

 sumption of the work-people. "Well, the passion for 

 planting has been so violent, that in most districts 

 of the Kio zone, a slave has now to attend to 

 more than 7,000 trees. To keep those overgrown 

 plantations in anything like proper order, the owner 

 is now obliged to grow less rice, beans, and sugar- 

 cane, and to buy those commodities dearer than he, 

 could rear them himself. The sitiantes and small 

 fazendeiros have availed themselves of this circum- 

 stance to make their coft'ee-plauting a secondary 

 consideration, and devote themselves more especially 

 to the cultivation of the abovenamed articles of food, 

 which may be disposed of to the large fazendeiros in 

 the neigbourhood, or even in the Rio market. 



Such planters, because they have stooped to the 

 pequena lavoura, or small farming, are often nicknamed 

 quitaudeiros.f It certainly does seem very strange 

 that the cultivation of the first necessaries of life 

 is so nuieh looked dowTi upon in the coffee and sugar- 

 producing provinces of Brazil, that even maize and 

 beans have to be imported from the Southern pa'-ts 

 of tho Empire and the United States of America. 

 Hence it comes that the so-called quitandeiros drive 

 such a lucrafrive trade, that the profits of their small 

 farming clear the expenses of their plantations. The 

 same nickname is applied to such fazendeiros as sell 

 eggs, buttor, cheese, and liigs, and I have known 

 lege cofiue-planters who, constrained by hard times, 

 do this— or rather have it done for their benefit— by 

 ths' wives of their feitors or over-eers. To return to 

 the dressing of their gardens, In former times the 

 cafesaes were weeded three or four times a year. No\* 

 the dressing has to be confined to capu.ar or cutting 

 down the weeds once or twice, nnd the carpa or 

 thorough dressing of the gardens before the beginning 

 of harvest, generally in the month of Blay. 



The capillar is performed with a chopping knifp 

 or foice fastened to a handle five feet long ; or with 



* Piptadenia colubriua, Bth. Acacia virginalis, Pohl 

 Acacia angico. Murf. 



t Derived from quitauda, a basket of edibles, fruits 

 and diinties, which the uegres.ses in Rio offer for 

 sale. Those fruit or cake-vendors, who, according to 

 custom, carry theii- wares about on their are (hade, 

 e»Ued ^ttitasdeirM. 



