CHAPTEE XVm. 



MAEACAIBO AND LAGTTATEA COFFEE. 



Feom seven to twelve per cent, of the supply of coffee received 

 in the United States comes from the northern part of South 

 America, and is known as Maracaibo, Laguayra, or Porto CabeUo 

 coffee. It is grown either in Yenezuela or the United States of 

 Colombia. Both countries are mountainous, and are divided into 

 provinces or states. The valleys are long and beautiful, and on 

 the mountain sides and the lowlands coffee, which is the principal 

 article of export, is raised. Owing to defective cultivation and 

 neglect, the trees do not yield well, in some instances only one- 

 quarter of a pound per tree. Political anarchy and the scarcity 

 of capital and labor have stood in the way of the full develop- 

 ment of Venezuela's industry, as they also have, to a greater or 

 less extent, in New Grenada, now called the United States of 

 Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador, in aU of which the coffee-plant will 

 grow and prosper. Still, the northern states of South America, 

 with their Central American neighbors, form a great zone of coffee 

 production, the fourth in importance. In 1876 the export was 

 35,721,130 kHograms (78,750,803 pounds); in 1875, 31,082,417 

 kilograms (68,524,296 pounds), or an average for the two years 

 of 33,401,773 kilograms (73,637,548 pounds) or 32,874 tons. 

 Adding the product of New Grenada, there are about 35,000 

 tons available annually for export. The home consumption is 

 about thirty per cent, of the crop. Officials in Venezuela esti- 

 mate the total production at 60,000,000 kilograms (110,000,000 

 pounds). 



Maracaibo coffee is known as Cucuta, Merida, Tovar, Bocono, 

 and Trujillo. The first-named ranks as the finest. It is grown 

 in the Province of Santander, in the United States of Colombia, 



