CULTURE OF COFFEE. 
15 
shall not soon forget my first impressions of a cof¬ 
fee-estate, as I caught sight of it in the distance, 
or when actually within its precincts. 
We were on Las Yueltas or the back of the 
mountain, and descending by a gently sloping zig¬ 
zag mule-path, shaded by lofty forest-trees on our 
left, and on our right a steep precipice. Far be¬ 
low this lay the city of Caraccas as on a map, its 
spires glittering in the sun, and its surrounding 
estates stretching many miles along the beautiful 
and cultivated valley. On the winding road to the 
city, were many hundred mules with their burdens, 
carefully picking their way down the steep sides 
of the mountains. In the distance was seen the 
Silla of Caraccas, 10,000 feet above the level of 
the sea, while all along the valley, the verdure 
and harvest hues were truly gorgeous. The su¬ 
gar-cane, the changeable tints of the waving bar¬ 
ley, the green maize, the orange groves, and above 
all, the distant beauty of the coffee plantations, 
contributed to heighten the effect of a scene to me 
exceedingly attractive, and one well worthy the 
pencil of a master hand. Many other things eon- 
spired to make my first distant view of a coffee 
plantation with its accompanying scenery, very 
interesting, yet a close inspection was needed to 
appreciate its beauty. 
Just before entering the city of Caraccas, we 
passed a large and imposing entrance, with a pa¬ 
triotic inscription overhead. Finding it to be a 
coffee estate, we dismounted from our mules, and 
rambled through it. Imagine an extensive grove 
of trees, the branches of which, commencing about 
fifty feet from the ground, formed a large, compact, 
umbrella-like head, with dark-green, thick, glossy 
leaves, similar to those of the Cape Jessamine, and 
covered with brilliant scarlet flowers the size of 
the hand. These trees called the bucaris, are 
planted about thirty feet apart, their leafy heads 
forming a dense canopy impervious to the rays of 
the sun. The coffee-tree is planted under these 
about ten feet apart, in straight rows. At two 
feet from the ground the branches radiate horizon¬ 
tally from the main stem, which is allowed to rise 
to the height of 8 or 9 feet where its growth is 
stopped by splitting the top, and placing wedges 
in it, the fruit being better and more abundant 
where the growth of the tree is thus retarded. 
The tree was now in its full bloom and ripeness, 
exhibiting eonical forms of about six feet in diame¬ 
ter, with leaves of a glossy green, acuminate, and 
slightly indented. The fruit grew from the bark 
about the size and shape of a cranberry. The 
branches were loaded, like the arms of an oriental 
beauty, with beads of every tint. Some with 
the beautiful white flower, similar to our white 
jessamine, in continuous clusters on the top of the 
horizontal branches; others with the fruit of every 
shade, from the palest green to emerald, then the 
rose, the crimson, and last of all a chocolate-brown 
the sign of maturity. When to the refreshing 
shade and stately appearance of the bucaris, and 
the graceful foliage of the coffee-tree, is added the 
exceeding fragrance of the coffee-flower, frequent¬ 
ly perfuming the air for half a mile or more, 
the thick velvety turf beneath them, studded with 
Sowers of the mosi gorgeous colors, and adorned 
with little rivulets, deemed necessary to convey 
moisture to the roots of the plants, nothing can be 
more beautiful. As I rambled through the rows 
of coffee-trees entirely protected from the sun, with 
the velvety turf beneath my feet, and birds of the 
most brilliant plumage singing sweetly over my 
head, I thopght that no crop or plantation what¬ 
ever could possibly compare with it in beauty, and 
that if the cultivation of the soil here on Long Is¬ 
land was attended with such pleasures, mercantile 
life would find but. few votaries. Nowhere else, 
however, but in this valley and that of Aragua, did 
I see the plantations shaded by that beautiful tree, 
the bucaris. It requires too long a period to ob¬ 
tain the tree of sufficient size for shade. Through¬ 
out the West Indies, in Porto Rico, Hayti, Jamai¬ 
ca, and Cuba, I observed that they generally plant¬ 
ed the banana or plantain on the sunny side of the 
coffee-tree, to mitigate the heat of the sun by its 
glossy, pea-green leaves of 6 to 8 feet in length. 
When the berry becomes of a chocolate-brown 
and is quite ripe, it is picked by women or young 
persons. It is then carried to a platform which 
covers sometimes an area of several acres, and is 
made of plaster and lime, very hard and dry. The 
berries are then spread out in the sun to dry. Af¬ 
ter being thus dried, they are placed in a mill sim¬ 
ilar to a cider-mill, where a heavy wheel passes 
over them and takes off the husk ; it is then clean¬ 
ed by a common fan, and placed in bags for expor¬ 
tation. 
The cultivation is simple, and I see no reason 
why it could not be advantageously introduced in 
our southern states. It flourishes well on the Ja¬ 
maica mountains, at a height above the sea, where 
the climate is quite as cold as South Carolina. 
Georgia, or Louisiana. The labor is very light. 
The tree when once planted will bear thirty, and 
sometimes fifty years, with scarcely any attention. 
The preparation for market is very simple, and 
can be performed by children. It would be equal¬ 
ly profitable with cotton, and I think far more so 
than either rice or sugar, without the sacrifice of 
health attending the cultivation of the former, or 
the terrible using up of flesh and muscle demanded 
by the latter. The only point to be ascertained is, 
whether it will bear the climate of our southern 
states ; if so, there can be little doubt that for pro¬ 
ductiveness and facility of culture, it will be pre¬ 
ferable to any other southern crop. I hope some 
of the southern readers of the Agriculturist may 
be induced to give the coffee-tree a trial, and re¬ 
port the result. It would be a very valuable ad¬ 
dition to our agricultural productions for home con¬ 
sumption, and as an article of export; the demand 
abroad is almost unlimited. 
There are many articles of foreign produce 
which can without doubt be profitably cultivated 
in this country. We have every variety of soil 
and climate, and there is no reason why we should 
resort to other countries to obtain articles for the 
cultivation of which nature has provided us with 
abundant resources. The Agriculturist in striking 
out a new path for itself, and in which it has met 
with unusual success, has given this subject, I am 
aware, much attention, and many able articles 
have recently appeared on the cultivation in this 
