THE €UBA REVIEW 29 
Typical Coffee Plantation Headquarters of the Better Class, Oriente Province. 
which was established three or four years ago in Pinar del Rio, a wet method was utilized, 
in which the berries themselves as they come from the grove are dumped into large vats or 
tanks containing water through which a steady and heavy stream flows, as experience 
indicates that heavy, fully developed berries will sink to the bottom, while the lighter and 
immature berries float to the surface. Another system by which the lighter, more worth- 
less berries are removed from the coffee after it is hulled is that of suction, in which a 
current of air drawn through the thin layers of coffee beans sucks up, thus removing, the 
lighter product; but, as we have said, these methods of classification are not utilized in 
Cuba, with the result that our product does not present to the eye the same uniformity in 
size and color shown by each class of coffee bean as produced in Porto Rico or Brazil, 
where the industry is established on a more progressive and advanced basis. 
In the coffee producing sections of Cuba, certain firms have for many years devoted 
their time and attention to the financing of the coffee growers and the gathering together 
and preparation for final marketing of their products. We know of no grower in the 
Island whose financial position and volume of operations justifies his carrying this on 
independently, in every case there being a contractual relation between the planter and 
the merchant or financier to whom the crop is ultimately delivered. Contracts covering 
the establishment and operation of coffee groves are usually for periods of eight or more 
years, and the relations thus entered into frequently persist for many years after the 
contracts expire, due to the friendly and mutual interests thus created. All contracts 
stipulate that a certain minimum amount per month shall be advanced by the merchant to 
the planter, and that when the coffee is gathered the merchant shall be given the refusal 
of the product at the best price offered for it by any buyer. In the majority of cases, the 
merchants who devote their time and attention to this business are the owners of preparing 
plants, in which are treated not only the products of those growers financed by the owner, 
but also the products of other properties purchased by him. Cleaning and preparing 
plants on the plantations themselves do not exist, as the volume of products of any one 
plantation does not justify it. On all plantations drying floors are found, on which the 
fresh berry is dried, and in this form the product is delivered to the merchant for final 
preparation in the plant owned by him, or in some instances it is delivered to interme- 
