THE CROP. 163 



The riper the fruit is upon the trees before it is 

 gathered, the better will be the resulting sample of 

 prepared Coffee. The observant Arabs spread 

 mats under their world-famous Mocha bushes, and 

 collect only those cherries falling into them when 

 the tree is shaken. But the European planter can 

 hardly follow this process, because, as we have said, 

 his command of labour is hardly sufficient even to 

 gather in the heavy crops his system of planting 

 brings about in the quickest and most expeditious 

 \of ways. 



Anything tending to economise labour at this 

 season is of high value. There is a method by 

 which "cherries" are sent down from the most 

 remote clearings by means of water power. This 

 is done by iron piping, about the same diameter 

 and strength as the familiar cast-iron conducts 

 "adorning" the outside of English houses. Six 

 or eight foot lengths of this tubing are put 

 together after starting from some convenient and 

 central spot on the estate where a fair flow of 

 water can always be obtained, though it need 

 not be more than a rivulet, and length after length 

 it is wound down the estate to the pulping house. 

 Some care and skill is required in erecting them. 

 Where streams and ravines are crossed the pipes 

 must be supported on trestles, and where they He 

 along the ground, firmly pegged down. At the 

 receiving stations are coolies who receive the cherry 

 and flood it down the tube with sufficient water, 



