SECTION XII. 



HARVESTING THE CROP AND PREPARATION FOR MARKET. 



THE heavy blossom appears on the tree in August and 

 September. The principal crop is picked from April to 

 July. A small crop, chiefly from young coffee, is picked 

 from September to December. The produce is sent down 

 to Colombo, the shipping port, from April to September. 

 If the estate be close to a carriage road this is done by carts, 

 which can take from 60 to 80 bushels. Thercost of transport 

 is sometimes enormous. It is not unusual to .see carts loaded 

 with coffee lying at the bottom of a. precipice, while the bul- 

 locks which had brought them have died from exhaustion. If 

 not near a road, carrying coolies are employed, or pack bul- 

 locks, which take a load of 3 bushels, to transport it either 

 to a store, from which a carriage will convey it to Colombo, 

 or to the navigable point of one of the rivers. Of the 

 various modes and facility, or the want of it, possessed by 

 estates situated in different districts, some idea may be* formed 

 in the expense varying from Is. to 12s. per cwt. for bringing 

 the produce to Colombo. 



There are now in Colombo upwards of thirty establish- 

 ments for the preparation of coffee for shipment, ten or 

 twelve of these employ steam power to drive the requisite 

 machinery. To most of them large barbecues for drying are 

 attached, and cooperages for the preparation of casks, and in 

 the season, which lasts nearly three quarters of the year, from 

 10,000 to 15,000 women and 1000 to 2000 men are employed 

 in the process. 



