398 REPORT OF OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 



The above table shows a gradual growth in the exportation of coffee 

 for the ten years ended in 1896. In this year it reached a maximum 

 of over 58,000,000 pounds, with a value of over thirteen and a third 

 million dollars, or a mean average price of nearly 23 cents per pound. 

 This is a very satisfactory showing and in marked contrast to the 

 present much-depressed condition, which has resulted from a combi- 

 nation of the following circumstances: (1) The loss of the European 

 market largely through the war with Spain and the resulting transfer 

 of the island to the United States; (2) the great damage to the planta- 

 tions by the cyclone of August, 1899, and the time and capital required 

 to recover from it; and (3) the very crude method used in the pro- 

 duction of coffee. By the introduction of modern methods in the 

 cultivation of coffee and the adoption of good business methods in 

 introducing it into the market of the States on its merit there should 

 be a good future for coffee. 



The present methods of cultivation are very primitive and consist 

 chiefly of transplanting volunteer trees from old groves to new fields 

 and providing shade by growing trees suited to the purpose. It is 

 common to plant shade trees several years in advance of setting the 

 young coffee trees, and if the shade from them is not sufficient when 

 the coffee tree is to be set temporary shade is provided by planting 

 bananas. The young trees for planting the new groves are volunteer 

 plants which spring from the berries that fall to the ground and are 

 not gathered. These volunteer trees thus represent no selection. 

 They usually grow in dense shade, and are consequently spindling 

 and lacking in the form and vigor which is desirable for nursery stock. 

 These trees, usually about a foot in height, are set in the new fields 

 at irregular intervals, varying from 5 to 10 feet, and without any 

 regard for rows or symmetry. Two trees are usually set in each hole, 

 so that if one perishes another will remain. If both grow, they are 

 allowed to remain, each interfering with the proper development of 

 the other. While the trees are small the soil is occasionally stirred 

 about them with a machete and the weeds are cut down with this same 

 instrument. 



No attempt is made to control the form of the tree by pruning or 

 to protect it from the ravages of insects and diseases by spraying or 

 by other methods. The shade is often too dense, and no effort is made 

 to reduce it by pruning the shade trees. This neglect results in tall, 

 spindling, shapeless coffee trees that require from five to seven years 

 to come into bearing. After the trees begin to bear volunteer trees 

 spring up, many of which are allowed to grow until the groves often 

 become a dense thicket, through which the coffee pickers pass with 

 difficulty. Under these conditions the fruit is largely borne on the 

 tops of the trees, which makes the gathering slow and laborious. 



As a rule, too much shade is provided and it is a question if the 



