35 



COFFEE. 



the extreme limit at which the tree will bear fruit. Trees planted in 

 a light soil and in dry and elevated spots produce smaller berries, 

 which have a better flavour than those grown in rich, flat, and moist 

 soils. The weight of produce yielded by the latter is, however, 

 double that obtained from the former, and as the difference in price 

 between the two is by no means adequate to cover this deficiency of 

 weight, the interest of the planter naturally leads him to the pro- 

 duction of the largest but least excellent kind. It is the usual calcu- 

 lation that each bushel of ripe berries will yield 10 lbs. weight of 

 merchantable coffee. 



The aspect of a coffee plantation during the period of blossoming, 

 which does not last longer than one or two days, is very interesting. 

 In one night the blossoms expand themselves so profusely as to pre- 

 sent the same appearance which is sometimes witnessed in England 

 when a casual snowstorm, at the close of autumn, has loaded the trees 

 while still furnished with their full complement of foliage. The fruit 

 is known to be ripe when it assumes a dark red or nearly purple 

 colour, and in this state the pulpy covering begins to shrivel. If not 

 then gathered the fruit will drop from the trees. The sweet pulp 

 covering the seeds is in some countries distilled, and in other cases 

 dried and used as a coffee substitute. The fruit or berries are either 

 gathered by hand into bags or baskets, or the trees are shaken and the 

 fruit falls on sheets laid on the ground. 



In curing or drying the coffee it is sometimes usual to expose the 

 berries to the sun's rays in layers five or six inches deep, on platforms 

 or terraced floors, called barbacues. These paved barbacues are raised 

 a little above the ground and enclosed with an upright stone ledge of 

 eight or ten inches in height, and divided by transverse partitions, 

 with four or more square compartments, that each may contain a day's 

 gathering. During the first and second days the berries are turned 

 often, that the whole may be more exposed to the sun, but when they 

 begin to dry they are frequently winnowed and laid in cloths to pre- 

 serve them better from rain and dews, still exposing them to the sun 

 daily, and removing them under cover every evening until they are 

 sufficiently dried. By this means the pulp ferments in a few days, 

 and having thus thrown off a strong acidulous moisture, dries gradu- 

 ally in about three weeks ; the husks are afterwards separated from 

 the seeds in a mill. 



Other planters remove the pulp from the seed as soon as the berries 

 are gathered by a pulping mill. The pulp is then separated from the 

 seeds by washing them, and the latter are spread out in the sun to 

 dry. It is then necessary to remove the membranous skin or parch- 

 ment by means of heavy rollers. The seeds are afterwards sifted 

 and winnowed to separate the chaff, and if any among them appear 

 to have escaped the action of the rollers they are again passed through 

 the mill. 



In the ten years from 1861 to 1870, the coffee-growing countries 

 produced nearly sixty-eight millions of cwts. of coffee. Of this, Eio 

 alone supplied considerably more than a third. 



Production in Java and the Eastern Archipelago. — Although Brazil 

 supplies the largest quantity of coffee to the world, as its shipments 



