256 COFFEE : ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



yielding from twer^-five to fifty pounds of Coffee annually. 

 Labour is cheap, and lands are sold to colonists by the 

 Company on ten years' time, without interest." 



OTHER AMERICAN STATES. 



Venezuela and Colombia (where fine Coffee 

 is grown between 4,000 and 6,000 feet above sea 

 level) used to ship 7 to 12 per cent, of all Coffee 

 consumed in the United States. Paraguay Coffee 

 of the country is of an excellent quality, although 

 its flavour is somewhat bitter. At present it is 

 grown on a very limited scale, owing to the scarcity 

 of capital, and to the length of time which is 

 requisite before the cultivator is able to reap any 

 benefit. It is calculated that on the average a 

 period of five years or so must elapse before 

 plantations are ripe for their first harvest. " In 

 Costa Rica, they are grubbing up Coffee trees as 

 being no longer profitable, and planting rubber 

 instead, so Ceylon is not the only sufferer in 

 Coffee." 



The decadence of Coffee crops, generally, every- 

 where surely must eventually bring down the enor- 

 mous stocks of Coffee, both in London and Europe. 



Along the west coast of South America planta- 

 tions are found, but only from the latter state is 

 any quantity of beans exported. 



Turning northwards, we have, in 



