HOW COFFEE IS IMPORTED. 133 



If a jobber sells an invoice to a dealer who requires the coffee 

 shipped, he merely gives to a firm of forwarders an order upon 

 the warehouse, and the coffee is then covered with an additional 

 sack, costing from 13^ to 17^ cents, and delivered by the for- 

 warders to the freight line. The seller pays weighing charges, 

 four cents ; storage, four cents, and labor, four cents per bag. The 

 large railways keep lighters at the warehouse docks, accepting a 

 delivery of the, coffee through their agents there stationed. When 

 shipped by steamers running to Southern ports cartage is charged. 



"When sold by importers in large lots, an allowance of four 

 cents per bag lighterage is made. On lots sold to interior points 

 this is not granted, unless the purchase covers four hmidred bags 

 or over. Invoices are designated by letters. An invoice consists 

 of a number of chops, designated by figures, each chop varying 

 from the others in quality, style, or color. The coffee is divided 

 into six grades, known as choice to fancy, prime, good, fair, ordi- 

 nary, and common. These are subdivided and classed as follows : 



There is no standard of grade, nor is it deemed possible to 

 establish one, owing to the changes wrought by time in the ap- 

 pearance of the beans. The grade varies with the size and qual- 

 ity of the crop and the condition of the market. Upon a quick 

 and rising market coffee that ordinarily would be called fair 

 suddenly becomes strictly fair or good, and on a depressed or de- 

 clining market it may be termed barely or low fair. 



The following definitions of what constitutes the different 

 grades are generally accepted on the market, but nothing binds 

 them as a standard : 



Choice to Fancy. — Coffee that is entirely free from any imper- 

 fections, uniform in color and size of bean, and extremely sightly 

 in appearance. 



Prime, that which is free from imperfections, quite regular 



