348 Coffee Culture on tbe Soutbern Coast of Cbiapas. 



greatly in price, it must be sent to market already classified, to obtain 

 the highest price. Hence the necessity of sorting it. 



This operation is performed almost everywhere by hand ; but I have 

 seen on some estates separating machines, which consist of various 

 cylinders having holes of different sizes, through which the different 

 kinds of coffee run out, similar, in principle, to the separators of flour 

 in flour mills. Even when separating machines are employed, how- 

 ever, it will still be necessary to separate by hand the coffee beans of 

 different colors, but there will now be very few of these. 



American fanners are also employed, as has been said, in sorting 

 the coffee. 



In those estates in which this operation is performed with most 

 care, the coffee is separated into five classes, as follows : 



i st. Pea berry, which is considered the best. 



2d. First-class, which includes the largest beans, all being of the 

 same size and color. 



$d. Second-class, including medium-sized beans. 



4th. Third-class, including the smallest beans. 



5th. Waste coffee, including beans of a bad color, broken beans, 

 those that floated on the water and all those that cannot be included in 

 any of the preceding classes. 



When the operations mentioned have been all performed the coffee 

 may be said to be ready for the market. 



B. Improvement in the Preparation of Coffee in Soconusco. In my 

 opinion, the superior excellence of the Co lima coffee, as compared 

 with that grown in Soconusco, consists chiefly in the manner of its 

 preparation. 



In Colima the coffee is not first washed, as in Soconusco, thus re- 

 moving the mucilaginous part of which mention has been made, but is 

 allowed to dry with this substance on it. Thus the coffee absorbs a 

 considerable part of the substance contained in the mucilage, which 

 improves its aroma and its quality, while the advantages of said sub- 

 stance are entirely lost when the beans are first washed and thus 

 deprived of it. 



I believe, therefore, that the quality of Soconusco coffee would be 

 greatly improved by following in its preparation the system followed in 

 Colima, and probably in other places ; that is, to allow the coffee beans 

 to absorb, when drying, the saccharine substance which is found be- 

 tween them and their inner covering or shell. 



C. Preparation of Coffee in Ceylon. In the estates of Ceylon coffee 

 is prepared for market in the same manner as in Soconusco, until it 

 remains in the hull ; it is then sent to the port of Colombo, where it 

 receives the final preparation. 



This is performed in the following manner: When the coffee is 



