February i, 1892.I THE TROPfCAL AGRICULTURIST. 537 
the lafce John Gomes o. e., and where hie widow 
lives. The land lies on a gentle s'ope, seems to 
have bfen larfle ohena land, judging by the absence 
ot characteristic treeetumps which are left protruding 
above the highest coli'ee trees it latter be planted 
in virgin soil. Coffee seemg planted the regulation 
distanoe 10 by 16 paltnaa (Hi by llj feel), the 
older ociffeo covers the grounrt well and the younger 
is very equal in height. There is a saw mill, a 
vertical one, which we no'ice from the road sawing 
up huge logs which have been taken from a clump 
of virgin forest in low land which would be suhject 
to frost. We rode for about a mile through the 
plantation ascending the hill all the time. From 
the top of the hill a nice view is gnt of the valley 
through which we have ridden. Wa see hilla 
oovered with green coffee trees, on the two sides ot 
the valley. After passing through a piece of large 
ohena on the top ot the bill, we commence to 
descend on the other side, and soon we enter 
another coffee plantation. This one had been badly 
treated and but four years ago was purchased by 
its present owner for a small sum. The new own'r 
out down the first planted trees about a foot from 
the ground, and the result now is a beautiful li'^ld of 
dirk green coffee bushes, with not much crop for 
coming season, but a flush of young wood for the 
coming blorsoming season. Sept, and October. 
The owner now asks £10,000^for what he paid 
£.3,0CO. 
We now descend gradually down the right side 
of another valley; the stream in the middle of it 
runs in a different direction, from that we have 
come and we find we are on a rar.ge of hills ; 
which seems to be formed from the parent, hill 
wp have just crossed. 
Thr. ugh long pio'ogical ages they have been 
forming, for we find these ridges ali run parelell 
with undulating hollows through which rano a 
stream. Almost every avai able piece of forest on 
the upper slopes is planted with cofiee of ages 
from one to seven years and in many cases just 
newly cleared and planted. In the distance are 
seen further ranges of hills covered with coffee, or 
newly burnt clearings. 
We rode along the side of this valley for a few 
miles and then we arrived at our headquarters 
for the day, the fazenda of " Lirradaa." This 
Fazenda forms one of a group of some four or 
five estates belonging to the Jorqueiro family the 
same to whom I have referred in these present 
notes as having been the holders of 360,000 acres 
in 1876. This group now forms the remnant of 
that large block. Beginning with the breaking up of 
thii blook in 1878, in three years it was all sold 
exoept what they now retain, and that is about 
5,000 acres. 
The proceeds of the sales— although receiving 
what vvould be called a small price per acre for coffee 
land— mai'e them all (the members of the family) 
very rioh. 'J hey were thus in a position to buil l 
houses for, and locate on their lands mnny European 
colonist families; consequently their coii'ee fields — 
from the time they wore plar.t d, unlike many others 
here have been kept in first rate order. Thn acrage un- 
der colTco of all ages ill about 3,000 or 1,000,000 trees. 
The rest of their land is pisiure or forest under 
what we may call the Frost line. 
I', is in the hollows in the midst of arlifioially 
made pastures whorearo located ihe colonists' housi s, 
nioe looking white-wayhed tile cavered buildings 
After partaking of a hearty breakfast which was 
onn pq'ial to any of the finest country hotel 
breakfasts, at the houpo of Senhor Joaquim Fermino 
do AndraJo JiinqU'iro and enjoying h cigirette — 
made of some tobaooo of his own growing (in 
whioh ho prided himaoH aa being equal to Hid boit 
grown in these famous tobacco growing western 
lands) — and a oup of strong but full-flavoured black 
coffpe— fresh horses were supplied to us, and we 
began in Visiting Agent style an inspection of 
these groups of estates. 
I can scarcely express the pleasure this gave. 
The old Ceylon life came back to me, and but tor 
the extra height of the trees, and the less aoci. 
dental nature of the formation of the land, one 
could imagine one's self riding th ° ugh the Hunas- 
giriya, Matale East, and Kelebokka districts in the 
days of old. 
Our road at first was across the pasture, passing 
on the way a large village of Italian colonists. 
The contented look ot the old people, and the 
healthy look of the children who were playing about 
as if they were in Southern Europe, the well filled 
corn hous3 situated in the back yard, the piggery 
and the fowl house, the enclosure for the calf to 
keep it away from the cow, the open stable for 
a horse, and last but not least in the back yard 
the large dome, well clayed over which serves for 
an oven, all inclined to make ua believe that 
whatever may be said to the contrary, these people 
have not only bettered their position, but are 
supplying a necessary want to the cultivation of 
cofiee in this country. 
A barbed wire fence divides the pasture from the 
roffee fields. The large regulation wooden gate, 
whi'jh takes the strength of a man on horseback 
to open, and being hung at an angle closes auto- 
matically wiih tremendous force, is generally hela 
open by the firdt of a group of people who may 
pass through. Here we have a delightful sight, 
coffee six and seven years old so loaded with 
green fruit that the branches were bending down 
to the ground. The trees are about twelve feet 
high planted 10 > 16 palmas (11^ x llj feet,) not a 
weed was to be seen and not an open space, to 
get along; the labourers had to bend their bodies or 
almost crawl. I should say there was about 15 
owt. to the acre, the green berries were well filled 
and at this season (April) many were growing 
yellow. (The picking season extends over Juno, 
July, August, September and October.) 
The roads are all made on straight lines, wide 
enough for oart trafSo and they all run at right 
angles. In picking the coffee cherry is heaped at 
the side of the road and a cart oomes and takes 
it away to the barbacue, whtre it is dried in the 
cherry. Owing to the stylo of picking — taking half 
ripe, full ripe and dried beans, whioh may be on 
the trots or on the ground, very little is done 
in the way ot pulping. Very little rain falls during 
the picking season, from June to October, therefore 
the cherry lies outside on the barbacue until it is 
dry enough for storing without heating. Admirable 
machines are now in use for hulling, and tliis is 
done at any time during the year Coffee keeps its 
colour better in the dry cherry than v. lien it ia 
cleaaed. So if the farmer wishes to waii. ior a high 
price later in the season, he keeps it in store un- 
hulled. The rule however is that he tries to get 
it ofi to market as soon as he can. 
Young coffee is Irejited similarly to what it is in 
your couu'ry but it is not topped. A great many 
plant*-, with seed, that is to say four or five coffee 
beans are put into each hole and after two years 
all but two are pulled out. The leaving of two 
plants is a new custom for formerly all planting 
was ilone by coffee plants from a nursery large 
enough to^e made into stumps g to J an inch in 
dianietcir and only one to each hole. The pulled 
out plants do well for supplying vacancies or for 
planting up ni.w clearings, but they must bo pulled 
when the soil is soft and moist afier or during heavy 
ram ; no damage is done to the roots of those 
