66 AGRICULTURE IN THE TROPICS [PT. II 



At the present time, though rubber may eventually surpass 

 it, coffee is the greatest exportation industry of the tropics. 

 Brazil alone exported in 1920 a value of 52,500,000, the 

 produce of an area of 3,300,000 acres, chiefly in the states of 

 Sao Paulo and Minas Geraes, where perhaps 1,000,000 men, 

 chiefly Italian and Portuguese, are employed upon the coffee 

 plantations. Other countries of South and Central America, 

 notably Venezuela and Guatemala, also export large quantities 

 of coffee, while India, Java, and other countries of the Old 

 World occupy much lower places, although their production has 

 of late been increasing. Although Brazil at present supplies 

 the greater part of the coffee consumed, the finest qualities 

 come from the higher mountain districts of Java, Jamaica, 

 Mexico, Arabia, etc. The total area cultivated in coffee is 

 about 5,000,000 acres. 



The chief species of coffee cultivated is the Arabian (Coffea 

 arabica), which gives the finest quality of coffee. Coffea robusta, 

 an African species, has of late years come prominently to the 

 front as a producer of good coffee at elevations lower than those 

 at which Arabian succeeds, and as it possesses the marked 

 advantage of producing a noticeable crop at two years old, it 

 has come into great favour in Java, Sumatra, and elsewhere. 

 Liberian coffee (G. liberica) is also a good deal cultivated in 

 countries with low-lying, humid areas, like the Federated Malay 

 States and other flat countries. There are many other species 

 of coffee known, and some of them are proving useful in 

 hybridisation, which gives promise of producing valuable 

 results. 



Coffee grows in very different climates and soils, but in 

 general the climate should allow of dry weather for the ripening 

 of the crop, and the soil should be deep and water-retaining. 

 In Brazil suitable soils are to a large extent picked out by 

 observing whether certain trees, 'such as Apeiba Tibourbou, are 

 to be found growing well upon them. The best coffee soils in 

 the state of Sao Paulo have a depth sometimes exceeding 

 20 yards. The rainfalls of coffee countries vary from 30 to 

 150 inches. Frost is dangerous, especially if accompanied by 

 wind. 



