The Picking Season. 211 



from the time the berries begin to ripen (in October 

 or beginning of November) until the middle or 

 end of January. In some low-lying districts, how- 

 ever, the crop ripens more rapidly, and all must be 

 got in within about a month or six weeks. 



In order to insure the coffee arriving at perfec- 

 tion, and so earning a high character in the market, 

 the berries ought not to be picked until fidly ripe, 

 as indicated by a deep purplish crimson colour. 

 The beans may then be expected to have a rich 

 flavour and a strong aroma when roasted. It is 

 understood to be owing in- great measure, if not 

 solely, to their attention to this fact by the Arabs, 

 that Mocha coffee, although so inferior in size and 

 appearance, commands its high position in the 

 European markets. The system followed is to 

 allow the berries to become dead-ripe on the trees, 

 and when they are ready to drop off, to spread 

 cloths and mats on the ground, over which the 

 crop is then shaken down. The Ceylon and East 

 India native coffee, on the other hand, owes its 

 inferiority of quality, and the comparatively low 

 price it consequently realizes, to the fact that half 

 of the berries are picked in an unripe state. The 

 same may probably be said of the Brazil coffee, 

 which being carelessly grown, gathered, and cured, 

 stands in value even much below " native " Ceylon 

 and East India. The following quotations, from a 

 P 2 



