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color. They are then put into a mortar, and the grains hulled or beaten 
out with a pestle. The grain is then separated from the chaff by the 
crude process of fanning it out by hand or winnowing, though some- 
times a fan-mill is used. The coffee is afterwards picked over carefully, 
grain by grain, by hand, and selected; and it is then ready for sacking 
and the market. Up to the present the “ doctoring” process of artificial 
coloring or bleaching, as in some countries, has not been resorted to 
here. The process of curing, after gathering the crop, is in a most prim- 
itive state in Mexico. It presents a fertile field for Yankee ingenuity 
to invent instruments and methods to facilitate the process, or for en- 
terprise to avail of the inventions in use in other countries. And al- 
though it has been grown here for so many years, the coffee cultivation 
in Mexico may yet be considered in its infancy, as it is only beginning 
to receive the attention of intelligent and scientific cultivators. So that 
great improvements may be anticipated both in thecultivation and curing. 
Experience has, however, proved that it is a certain and reliable crop. 
So far, its cultivation at Cordova has developed no disease of plant or 
berry. Insects do not attack it. It is very little affected by the cli- 
mate, as in the locality of its production there is no frost; and although 
great drought may diminish the crop, it does not destroy it. The flower 
when in full bloom is sometimes broken off by severe winds, but this 
seldom diminishes the yield. The crop is also clean and comparatively 
easy to cultivate. After the cafetal is once in full bloom, the cultivation 
iseasy. Only at the picking season is there much urgency required. 
Once gathered, the crop can be cured and prepared for market leisurely 
and at the planter’s convenience. 
The most prominent objection is that so much time is lost before a 
profit begins to be realized. If a planter commences with sowing the 
seed, he must wait more than five years before he obtains returns upon 
his investment; or four years if he plants from the nursery, as the first 
year’s crop barely pays more than the cost of cultivation and curing. 
But as compensation for this, a plantation once established yields a 
never-failing crop, without renewal, anxiety, or uncertainty, for a life- 
time. And the profit in Mexico during the past few years has been 
about 100 per cent. over the cost of cultivation, and 10 per cent. interest 
on the capital invested. The period the trees will continue bearing is 
variously estimated, but the usual estimate is from twenty to twenty- 
five years. There are, however, trees now growing in Cordova sixty or 
seventy years old, remains of neglected and abandoned plantations, 
which by pruning and cultivation are yielding a fine crop. An intelli- 
gent American planter in that valley claims that with attention and 
care plants ought to continue bearing vigorously for fifty years.’ An- 
other important feature of coffee-planting in Mexico is that the locality 
of its cultivation is usually both healthy and attractive, elevated above 
the fatal diseases of the tropics and in the presence of the most beauti- 
ful scenery. The valley of Cordova, for instance, is among the foot- 
hills of the great mountain of Orizaba, whose peak is covered with eter- 
nal snow, in a rich semi-tropical vegetation, and with a remarkably 
equable climate, the elevation being 3,000 feet above the sea. 
The average yield per tree at Cordova is estimated at about one and 
a half pounds, although it is claimed that, with intelligent culture, praun- 
ing, and manuring, the average yield in that valley may be increased 
to three pounds per tree. It is not uncommon to find trees yielding 
from five to seven pounds, and, in very exceptional cases, from twenty- 
five to fifty pounds each. With the trees, planted three yards apart 
each way, with the above-stated average, it is easy to estimate the yield 
