COFFEE. 



69 



stitutes nearly half of all the supply of coffee to the world. The 

 culture extends from the Amazon to the province of San Paulo, and 

 from the coast to the western limits of the empire, a surface exceeding 

 653,400 square kilometres (of nearly 5 furlongs each). There are 

 about 530,000,000 coffee trees, which cover an area of 1,4:00,000 

 acres. The principal producing provinces are Rio Janeiro, San Paulo, 

 Bahia, Ceara, and Minas Geraes. The shipping ports are Rio, Santos, 

 Bahia, and Ceara, the port of Rio exporting about ten-twelfths of all 

 that is shipped. 



The culture in the province of Ceara is rather of recent date, but it 

 is now carried on on a large scale in the mountains of Maranguape, 

 Aratana, Batunte, Araripe, Machada, and Uraburotama. The plan- 

 tations having been attacked by insects, the production diminished 

 after 1863, but has again recovered. 



The productive power of the empire has almost doubled in the last 

 ten years. In 1864, 264,000,000 lbs. of coffee were shipped, and in 

 1873, 462,000,000 lbs. ; the value of the coffee shipped in 1871 was 

 nearly 8,500,000Z. ; the local consumption is calculated to be one- 

 fifth of the total product. 



The production in Brazil in 1820 was only about 14,000,000 lbs. ; 

 in 1822, 150,000 bags were shipped, but the scarcity of coffee at that 

 period, and the falling off of production in Cuba, stimulated the 

 Brazilian planters so greatly that in 1830 the export from Rio alone 

 had increased to over 64,000,000 lbs. ; in 1847 to 299,640,000 lbs., in 

 1860 to 341,000,000 lbs., representing 2,126,719 bags, weighing about 

 160 lbs. each, and in 1872 to 3,349,284 bags. 



Of the varieties of the coffee tree, no less than sixteen species are 

 indigenous to Brazil, an evidence of the suitability of the soil and 

 climate for the culture, while Peru, Guiana, Mexico, New Granada, and 

 other parts of the continent, have also indigenous species of the tree. 



The coffee plant grows in most parts of Brazil, as the medium 

 temperature which it requires is found throughout nearly all the 

 empire. It prospers even in places exposed to the cold, and appears 

 to vegetate with more vigour, but the fruit is not so abundant, nor 

 has it the precocity and regularity necessary to render the crop pro- 

 fitable. As the flowering and fructification take place at two periods, 

 the end of September and October, two gatherings are necessary. 



Attempts have been made, but without any resulting benefit, to 

 acclimatise some of the esteemed varieties from other countries. The 

 Government introduced Bourbon plants in 1857, and Java, Mocha, 

 and other species tried have soon degenerated and assimilated to the 

 ordinary Brazilian. The same occurred in Martinique when the 

 Mocha coffee was introduced in 1818, for in a few years the berry was 

 found not to differ from that ordinarily cultivated in the island. 



When a plantation has to be made, the sunny slope of a hill is 

 selected, the site of which is not too retentive of the water falling on 

 it. This, after being cleared and burnt off in the usual manner of 

 treating timber lands, is planted over in rows, with year-old plants, 

 previously reared in a nursery. These receive little further care 

 than to keep the weeds down, and to have the up ward growth checked 

 by pruning, so as to facilitate the gathering of the crop. In four or 



