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cultivation at Cordova may be a matter of interest to the vast number 
of coffee drinkers in the United States, many of whom know nothing of 
the article except at the daily breakfast table.* 
The seed or grain, which should be selected with care, is usually 
planted in well-prepared beds in a nursery, shaded from the sun. The 
young plants are transplanted at the age of one year or eighteen months 
to the fields or cafetales, which are thoroughly cleaned of all under- 
growth and the soil well prepared. As the young plants are very ten- 
der, it is necessary to protect them from the sun. Tor this reason open 
forests are used, where available, and the mountain sides affording 
shade are utilized for coffee plantations. In open fields a growing shade 
must be created, which is most quickly obtained by planting banana 
trees, also yielding some profit from their fruit. But the best cultiva- 
tors at Cordova consider this a poor substitute. One of the most intel- 
ligent planters there has set out in his coffee fields a large number of 
cinchona trees, (from which quinine is obtained,) which grow well in 
that latitude; also valuable timber trees, as the oak, walnut, &c. The 
second year after planting there is a very slight yield of coffee; the 
third year about a half crop; and the fourth year (or when the plant is 
five years old) a full crop is gathered. 
A reasonably rich soil is desirable for coffee, and manuring pays well 
in the vigor of the tree and increase of yield. The distance at which 
plants are set out in the field is usually about three yards (or varas) 
- apart each way, although often planted closer. The cultivation consists 
in keeping the fields clean from weeds and undergrowth and plowing 
the soil; in certain localities irrigation is necessary, but in Cordova, after 
the plants are well started in the field, this is not required; and the 
better class of planters give careful attention to pruning, keeping the 
plant or tree at the height of from 6 to 8 feet, although if unchecked it 
will grow to double that height. 5 
The trees do not yield their full blossoming at one time. The first 
flowering is sometimes as early as December, the second about Febru- 
ary, and the third and most abundant the last of March and the month 
of April. Early in April last it was my good fortune to spend several 
days in Cordova, in the midst of the blossoming season. The suburbs 
of the city in all directions are devoted tocoffee cultivation. The lanes, 
lined on each side with cafetales, presented a most agreeable sight—the 
pure white blossoms, clinging close along the branches half covered with 
the bright green leaves, gave the trees the appearance of being sprinkled 
with snow; and the perfume of the flowers, almost equal to that of 
orange blossoms, loaded the air with its fragrance. 
The flower falls, leaving a round green berry, which ripens in seven or 
eight months, changing when ripe into a red color. Each fully-formed 
berry contains two grains; though sometimes it contains only one grain, 
which is rounded or oval shaped, called by the Mexicans caracolillo. 
On account of the different times of flowering, the picking or gathering 
season lasts for three or four months, each tree having to be carefully 
gone over three or four times by hand. This is the most tedious and 
difficult process of the whole cultivation; it cannot be postponed, must 
be done carefully, and requires an extra number of laborers ; but women 
and children can be employed at low wages. 
The first process after picking is to dry the berries, which is done by 
exposing them to the sun, when they shrivel and change to a black 
* Hon. Matias Romero, well known in the United States as the former Mexican min- 
ister at Washington, has recently written a valuable work, in Spanish, on coffee culti- 
vation entitled, ‘‘ Cultivo del café en la Costa Meridional de Chiapas.” 
