COrFEE. 



75 



suffering it to percolate among the roots, and also to provide a convenient place 

 of deposit for the subsequent application of manure. 



The " siembra a la estaca" is differently executed. Such plants are selected 

 from the nursery as are of the thickness of the little finger, or from that to an 

 inch in diameter. In \rithdrawing them from the ground, great care is taken 

 not to injui-e or compress the bulbs or buttons within eight or ten inches of 

 the level of the soil, because these are to serve for the production of fresh roots 

 when the " estaca " is afterwards planted more deeply in its permanent position. 

 The greater part of the capillary roots are cut away with a knife ; but a few, 

 together with the principal root, are suffered to remain from four to six inches 

 long. In planting them, from three to four inches of the trunlc are left above 

 ground. The little basin of earth for the reception and filtration of the rain- 

 water, is not so large in the stake system of planting as in that with the clod of 

 earth "a. la mota ;" but if the soil be poor, it must be proportionably enlarged 

 to admit the application of the necessary quantity of manure. 



The stake system, requiring much less labour than the other, is generally 

 preferred ; but when there is abundance of shade to protect the young plant from 

 di'ought, and always, of course, in replacing the decayed trees of an old planta- 

 tion, it is consiilered more desirable to remove the whole plant, its roots and 

 branches entire, with as much as possible of the adhering soil from the nursery, 

 according to the system " a la mota." 



In the third or fourth year of the plantation, the trees, according to the best 

 system of husbandry, are pruned doAvn to the height of three feet from the 

 ground on the ricJiest soil, and still lower in proportion to its sterility. All the 

 branches which are not as nearly as possible at right angles with the trunk, are 

 likewise removed by the i)runing-knife, so that in the following spring the whole 

 stem is covered with tresh shoots. By this operation the power of nature seems 

 to be exhausted, as for that year the trees in general bear no fruit ; but in sub- 

 sequent seasons the loss is amply repaid by a crop often greater than the branches 

 can support, or than the flow of nourishment is always able to bring to full 

 size and maturity. 



The machinery for removing the extenaal pulp of the coffee-bean is seldom of 

 a very perfect description in this island, and the loss sustained in consequence is 

 often very considerable. It is almost uniformly moved by the power of horses 

 or oxen, working in a gin, and the name it bears is that of the Bcscerccador. 

 The Barbecues, when the coffee is laid out to dry, are called indiscriminately 

 Tendcdes or Secadores. They ax"e more numerous and of smaller dimensions 

 than is customary in the British colonies, where a single barbecue, laid dow n 

 with tiles or plaster, is considered sufficient for a whole estate. 



The warehouse for receiving the crop and preserving the coffee after it is put 

 into bags and ready for the market, is generally of such limited dimensions as 

 to be barely sufficient for the purposes for which it is designed; so that, when 

 the harvest has been abundant, or when anything has occurred to interfere with 

 the despatch of what is ready for removal, the constant accumulation is 

 attended with serious inconvenience. In fact, the occupation of the coffee 

 planter has been for some time on the decline in the island, owing to the 

 superior rate of profit derived from the making of sugar ; and everything re- 

 minds you of it, the moleno de pilar ^ the aventador, and the separador, down to 

 the humblest implement of husbandry on the estate. 



The gathering of the fruit commences in Cuba in August; but November 

 and December are the most active and important months of the harvests. The 

 labom-ers are sent out with two baskets each, one large, the other small. Every 

 labourer has a file of coffee trees assigned to him ; the large basket he leaves 

 near the place where his work is to begin ; the other he carries with him to 

 receive the berries from the trees ; and as often as it is full he empties it into 

 the large one. The baskets are made of rushes, willows, or bamboo; and the 

 large one is of such a size that three of them ought to fill the barrel, without 

 top or bottom, which serves the purposes of a measure at the Tendal or 

 Secador. 



Thr-ee baskets, or one barrel-measure, of the newly-gathered coffee berry, 

 ought to produce thirty pounds after the i)rocess of drying, the removal of the 



