148 COSTA RICA 



a basket swung from the waist, picks from sunrise to sunset. 

 This operation is a delicate one, and is watched very closely to 

 prevent the leaves from beino- broken, as the next crop starts 

 from the angle formed by the leaf and brancli. The fresh coft'ee 

 is transported by ox carts, passes through a machine that breaks 

 the outer skin, and is then placed for twent^^-four hours in water, 

 until the sja-up-like substance that has adhered to the grains is 

 washed awa}^ After it has been washed, the coffee is spread out 

 on a cemented court into smooth beds. Here it remains during 

 the sunshine, but at night and during cloudy days it is gathered 

 into heaps and covered with canvas. The process of spreading 

 and gathering together is continued until the coffee is thoroughly 

 dry. During this operation no planter neglects to place sentinels 

 around the coffee court, since coffee even in Costa Rica is worth 

 40 cents a pound, and a single individual might carry away 

 several hundred dollars' worth of it in a fe^v hours. When dr}^ 

 the coffee is sacked and transported to the factor}^, where an 

 elaborate process by modern machinery prepares it for the market. 

 The final work is the separation of the black, small, and imper- 

 fect berries and classifying them. They are called first, second, 

 third, and fourth classes, and the well-known caracolillo or pea- 

 berry. This is done by a machine having a long center cylinder, 

 with openings of various sizes that correspond with the different 

 classes of coffee. From this machine the berries are transferred 

 to large tables, where girls pick out by hand any impurities 

 not removed by the machines. The coffee is then sacked and 

 marked; each bag weighs 132 pounds. Now that the coffee is 

 ready for export and marked " Hamburg," " Liverpool," etc., a 

 question naturally arises. Is there any marked " New York," 

 " New Orleans," or " Baltimore " ? I have to answer with deep 

 regret that very little is marked that way, the bulk of the crop 

 being bought by PDuropean firms, who send their agents several 

 months in advance of harvest time, either to buy outright or to 

 furnish funds, with liberal conditions, to farmers who agree to 

 consign their crops. American merchants make very little effort 

 to secure the products of Costa Rica or to furnish its markets 

 with the manufactured articles which are produced in the 

 "Cnited States. 



Time does not permit me to speak of other agricultural pro- 

 ductions. Costa Rica is capable of producing not only coffee^ 

 bananas, cocoa, and sugar-cane, but northern fruits and vegeta- 

 bles. There we find peaches, apples, quinces, strawberries, and 



