194 



COFFEE 



trees. The planters in Arabia do not pluck the fruit, but place 

 cloths for its reception beneath the trees, which they shake, and 

 the ripened berries drop readily. These are afterwards spread 

 upon mats, and exposed to the sun until perfectly dry, when 

 the husk is broken with large heavy rollers made either of wood 

 or of stone. The coffee, thus cleared of its husk, is again dried 

 thoroughly in the sun, that it may not be liable to heat when 

 packed for shipment. 



This method may, in some measure, account for the superior 

 quality of the Arabian coffee, but in the large plantations of 

 Brazil, Java, Ceylon, and other European colonies, it is necessary 

 to follow a more expeditious plan, to pluck the berries from the 

 trees as soon as they ripen, and immediately to pass them 

 through a pulping mill, consisting of a horizontal fluted roller 

 turned by a crank, and acting against a movable breast-board, 

 so placed as to prevent the passage of whole berries between 

 itself and the roller. The pulp is then separated from the seeds 

 by washing them, and the latter are spread out in the sun to 

 dry ; after which the membranous skin or parchment which 

 immediately covers the beans, is removed by means of heavy 

 rollers or stamping. 



To be cultivated to advantage, the coffee-tree requires a 

 climate where the mean temperature of the year amounts to at 

 least 68°, and where the thermometer never falls below 65!^ 

 It is by nature a forest tree requiring shade and moisture, and 

 thus it is necessary to screen it from the scorching rays of the 

 sun by planting rows of umbrageous trees at certain intervals 

 throughout the field. These also serve to protect it from the 

 sharp winds which would injure the blossoms. It cannot bear 

 either excessive heat or a long-continued drought, and where 

 rain does not fall in sufficient quantity, artificial irrigation musi 

 supply it with the necessary moisture. From all these circum- 

 stances it is evident that the best situations for the growth o: 

 coffee are not the sultry alluvial plains of the tropical and sub- 

 tropical lands, but the mountain-slopes to an elevation 

 4,500 feet. 



In Java the zone of the coffee-plantations extends betweei 

 3,000 and 4,000 feet above the level of the sea ; and the primi 

 tive forest is. constantly receding before them. Frequently, o: 

 felling the woods, a part of the original trees is left standing t 



