75 



Edible Products, 



RIO DE JANEIRO. 



The British Consul-General at Rio de Janeiro writes of his district : — 



" Coffee planting is the principal industry of Brazil and coffee is the 

 principal article of export. The consumption of the world is estimated at 

 16,000,000 bags, the bulk of which is produced in Brazil which yields some 

 9,000,000 to 15,000,000 bags. The limited demand for the quantity produced caused 

 a crisis in recent years owing to bumper crops and over-production. Since 

 then there have been schemes to restrict production, but these have only 

 taken effect in the State of Sao Paulo, in which State alone can any official 

 statistics on this subject be obtained. 



Sao Paulo is the principal coffee district. 



Labour. — The conditions of labour are different in each locality. It may, 

 however, be calculated that men earn about 2$ a day and women 1$, beside 

 food. ' ' Colonials " or those labourers established on the estate receive land and 

 a certain number of trees in lieu of wages ; others have an interest in the 

 crop. The labour is chiefly Italian and Negro, and is bad and scarce. Immi- 

 gration is required, but has been so badly treated that it is discouraged. Owing 

 to extravagance the planters are mostly in difficulties and do not pay wages 

 when due, or the men are fleeced by the truck system. It is possible for the 

 labourers to live by the cultivation of their own plots. The work on the 

 estate takes some nine months of the year. 



Note.— 1 melries=2s. 2 , 934(7. formerly, now Is. 5d. say Re. 1 cts. 6. 



Cultivation. — It is only the principal coffee districts which are comprised 

 in the newspaper reports ; and there are large tracts of land implanted and 

 suitable for coffee, and these lands are likely to remain implanted until the 

 demand for coffee increases. It would probably not be practicable to obtain 

 land for coffee-planting where restriction is in force, nor under the circumstances 

 would it be likely to be profitable. There are extensive railways through the 

 principal coffee districts, the rates vary but are high. 



Old fazendas are abandoned and not cultivated, but coffee is picked when 

 the trees happen to yield. When the trees no longer bear the plantation is 

 abandoned, and as the land is privately owned it does not revert to Govern- 

 ment, nor is it taxed. Coffee trees yield berries up to 30 years. After bumper 

 crops the next crop or two is smaller. Land in Sao Paulo in some districts 

 produces 3 or 4 times as much as that in Rio de Janeiro. There does not seem 

 to be any extension of planting, and that planting is to replace those trees 

 that go out of bearing. There is not much planted that has yet to come into 

 bearing. Trees begin to bear three years after planting. In Rio the land is 

 hilly, and in Sao Paulo undulating and flat, with a red soil. There is some 

 heavy forest and much scrub, and the undergrowth is very thick, with creepers; 

 tkorns, and grass; heavy timber is found in the forests. 



System.— The cost of production and placing at local railway stations 

 may be estimated at 4*300$ a bag of 60 kilos (or 132J lbs.). 



There are two kinds of trees cultivated in Brazil, the "Bourbon" and 

 " Criola." 



The land is not manured, only weeded. No pruning, trees allowed to 

 grow free. No artificial or other shade used. The branches of the "Bourbon" 

 grow up, those of the "Criola" grow out and bend down. 



The trees grow to about eight feet high and are planted two metres 

 apart. A full grown tree is about one inch in diameter, one foot from the 

 ground. When planting out one plant is put in each pit. Bye-crops are the 



