ti COFFEE iojr 



all the year round, thus buds, flowers, ripe and unripe 

 berries are often seen on the trees at the same time ; and, 

 as the flowering frequently comes on before the crop is 

 gathered, the planter is often bothered a great deal, for, as a 

 rule, the trees must not be interfered with at all whilst they 

 are flowering. 



The yield of coffee varies, of course, according to soil, Returns. 

 climate, and cultivation, but it may be said to be from four 

 to twelve hundred-weights to the acre. A pound per tree, '^ pound per 

 on an average, would be a very good return, but in favour- 

 able situations and under proper cultivation some trees will 

 yield much more. The Liberian coffee trees are much more 

 prolific than the Arabian kind, and each tree yields from one 

 to eight pounds of clean coffee. About three bushels of Ten pounds of 

 berries may be picked by a good worker in a day, and this toThe^buslhei 

 will yield about thirty pounds of dry coffee or about ten of bemes. 

 pounds to the bushel in the case of the Arabian coffee, but 

 the pulp of Liberian coffee is much thicker, and the berries 

 of this kind will not give so much clean coffee to the bushel ; 

 but the trees, by bearing larger crops, compensate for the 

 greater loss in pulp. 



Pulping. — The operation of removing the pulp from the Berriesnot^ 

 berries — sometimes wrongly called "cherries" — is termed 

 pulping, and it may be done by the hand, by pounding 

 the fruit in a mortar, or by pressing the berries with a roll- 

 ing motion between two flat boards. These methods, how- 

 ever, will only answer when a small quantity of coffee has to 

 be treated, and, on a large scale, a machine called a pulper Machinery. 

 must be used. The principle on which pulpers are made 

 is that of a roller covered with a copper grater^ and made 

 to revolve against a smooth surface, the chop. The grater 

 is approached so closely to the chop that the berries will be 

 crushed without the coffee bean and its parchment covering 

 being injured ; and, as the chop is moveable, it can be set jyjQ^,^^ 

 to the different sizes of the beans. Thus in pulping Mocha coffee. 



