CULTIVATION OF COFFEE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 47 



extensive horizontal branches, and in holes ten or twelve feet 

 deep, to secure a constant supply of moisture. 



" The berries, as a general rule, when ripe are picked and 

 spread out on large drying-grounds, and are dried with the 

 pulp and parchment on the bean; when thoroughly dry 

 the berries are passed under wooden rollers, or pounded in 

 wooden mortars, and the outer skin being thus removed, the 

 beans are winnowed, garbled, sized and packed for the market. 

 The coffee prepared in this way is seldom so even in color 

 and appearance, but the aroma is better. This method is, 

 however, open to serious objections. Owing to the much 

 greater bulk of the coffee before the pulp is removed, the 

 room for drying would require to be very extensive, and as 

 coffee is very liable to ferment in the pulp, it must be laid 

 very thin, and constantly turned ; whilst in the event of wet 

 weather or exposure to moisture, or the equally dangerous 

 alternative of heaping it up, the whole would ferment and 

 be utterly spoiled." 



The system pursued by most planters for removing the 

 pulp is by machinery. After being washed and put on the 

 barbecues to dry, it is of importance to keep the coffee 

 constantly turned until it is all surface-dry, and the beans 

 cease to adhere to each other, but it should not be exposed 

 to sun or wind until the parchment cracks, as every hour's 

 exposure to the atmosphere, after that is removed, takes 

 away both from the color and the aroma of the bean. Of 

 course what has been said presupposes that the coffee is 

 picked "when fully ripe, since no care in curing or packing 

 will impart color or flavor to a half -ripe bean. For packing, 

 casks or cases are preferable to sacks, since coffee has a 

 strong attraction for damp and for all scents, and its aroma 

 will also suffer by its contact with any substance with which 

 it may be brought into connection. There are said to be 



