COFFEE 103 



interests of the employer that the men shall com- 

 plete it as easily as possible. A new man will be 

 observed walking round a tree picking a berry here 

 and there, his basket probably at the next tree, 

 where he will walk with a handful of berries. 

 Such a man gets disheartened as the day wears on 

 and he sees no chance of fulfilling his task. The 

 trained picker, however, will be found to start at 

 the top of the tree, and, taking each branch as he 

 comes to it, strip it of the ripe fruit. He keeps 

 his basket at his feet and picks with both hands. 



The picker, when his measure is full, carries it 

 out to the nearest road, where the Coffee is bagged, 

 and the fact is recorded to his credit. From here 

 it is carted to the factory. The berries are then 

 weighed and shot into the bin, ready for pulping. 



Pulping. This consists of the removal of the 

 outside red jacket of the berry. It is a very rapid 

 process, and unless very large quantities of Coffee 

 are coming in, it is not necessary to run the pulper 

 for more than a few hours daily. In this case it 

 is best done in the afternoon so that the day's pick- 

 ing is finished up, as the berries would not pulp so 

 well next morning. For the best work it is 

 necessary that the machine be carefully adjusted 



