32 REPORT OF thl: commissioner of agriculture. 



tbese subjects. As a rnle, ("acli man attribntos to the Tiatuie of tlie plant effects which 

 arise fi'om the accidents of his k)catiiin or tri'.itmeiit. 



As with all small fruits, th<' peiibctit)!i of the coffee berry depemls on a good supply 

 of moisture. In the trojiics the principal crops follow immediately after the close of 

 the rainy seasons, and if the rains fail the crops arc light, as the berries dry up and 

 fall off Avithont ripeuintr. The heavy summer rains in the Southern States would 

 probably come just at the riglit time. But I should uot advise any one to put in cof- 

 fee on a piece of ground that could not be irrigated, though it is often done. 



Practice varies in regard to the number of plants to tlie acre. After looking over a 

 plantation, noting the plants in best condition, and making measurements, I deter- 

 nuned, to my own satisfaction, that the best way, in a cold country, at least, is to plant 

 in rows four yards apart and two yards apart in the row. The branches interlock in 

 the row (which some regard as necessary), and the distauce between the rows allows 

 of moving about for cultivating and gathering. By trimming, the foliage can be 

 made as open or as crowded as may be deemed best, while the wider spaces between 

 the rows allow of the extension of the branches in that direction if they should be 

 crowded in the other. This gives about 600 plants to tin; acre. 



The yield is estimated sometimes as low as two pounds to the plant. But the same 

 cultivator who gives me this figure says he is convinced that the increase of the yield 

 indefinitely is only a question of improved cultivation. A more usual estimate is three 

 pounds. A Scotchman in the neighborhood, who has brought more intelligence and 

 care to the examination of the matter than any other culti\'ator here, claims to have 

 plants under special cultivation that yield ten jiovxnds each. This is about the figure 

 claimed for the Liberiau plant. No one could foretell what would l)e the result of 

 transferring the plant to a country where it would have but one bearing season, in- 

 stead of two, as here ; but it is natural to suppose that it would exert itself with ex- 

 ceptional vigor iu that one season. In all probability the more careful and judicious 

 treatment that it would there receive would produce results even beyond those com- 

 monly attained in this country. 



It is claimed that the Liberian plant, and perhaps some others in the hot country, 

 are in full bearing at three years of age. This is not true of the colder country, where 

 they just begin to bear at three jears, and attain their maturity at from five to seven 

 years. Here is the chief expensfe of getting up a plantation. The first investment 

 has to lie unproductive, and the weeds have to be fought unceasingly through these 

 years. When once the plants obtain their growth their shade keeps the weeds down 

 ahnost without further attention. 



It is usual here to estimate the expense roughly as half the value of the coffee. 

 That raised in this neighborhood was sold last year in Bogota or Honda at about 20 

 cents ijcr pound, and the planters counted that half clear; that is, they allowed 10 

 cents a pound for expenses. The Scotchman above nieut^ioued has satisfied himself 

 that the cost of jjroduction is but 5 cents a pound. 



I conclude, then, that coffee can be raised successfully over a large part of California 

 and in the Lower Colorado and Rio Grande Valleys, where inigation is practicable; 

 that it is exceedingly doubtful whether it could be raised in the Gulf States; that 

 there may be a possibility of this being accomplished through careful experiment and 

 persistent effort, having a view to the discovery of a method of cultivation adtii)ted 

 to the climate or to the production of a hardier variety, as was done in Russia in the 

 case of wheat ; that the importance of the matter, viewed in relation not only to the 

 aggregate cost of importations into f he United States, but considered also as one of the 

 most profitable branches of agriculture, which it certainly is, would justify almost 

 any outlay necessary to test the question systematically and thoroughly. 



There is another niatter to w^hich I beg leave to call the atfeutiim of the depart- 

 ment, and which is to my mLnd less doubtful and fiir more iniporlant. I refer to the 



CULTIVATION OF THE CINCHONA. 



It is well known that the plantations in India have surpassed the most sanguine ex- 

 pectations of their founders. Some of the English papers have reported the- aunual 

 yield as reaching a value of $8,000 per acre. I consider this quite possible, in view of 

 the fact, which can be verified by reference to the trade reports, that the mossed barka 

 bring a.s much as eight shillings a pound iu the London market. 



Now, I have observed that the einchoiia rcijion hegins just about where the coffee climate 

 e^ids. In this country, asiu all South America, the cinchona has been ext(>rminafced 

 in all regions readily" accessible, so that it is a matter of the grjeatest difJlculty fo ob- 

 tain a sight of a growing tree. But in ijassing repeatedly through forests in which 

 it had once flourished I have been impressed with the conviction that sijnilar condi- 

 tions could be fouud in ipany parts of the Southern and Pacific Stntes. 



The cinchona seeks tht^ heights of the mouniains where it is subjeel to fTC([Ucut vis- 

 itations of frost. I have said that at the altitude of this city (8,)>..0 iVet. temperature 

 00'-' F.) there are heavy frosts; yet the cinchona cordifolia of this region grows nearly 



