COFFEE 
exactly how to treat the exigencies of the different trees 
at different ages. Naturally, the condition of the soil has 
to be taken into consideration in any case. According 
to experiments made by Dr. Dafert, each kilo of coffee 
beans has extracted from the soil: potash 0.7880 gramme; 
phosphoric acid 0.4020 gramme; magnesia 0.3240 
gramme; lime 0.1470 gramme. 
These experiments apply merely to coffee grown in 
Brazil, and are no doubt at variance with experiments on 
coffee grown elsewhere. Taking all things into consider¬ 
ation, it has been proved by chemical analysis that the 
Brazilian coffee comes as near as any in its components 
to what the normal or perfect coffee should be. 
The soil, the elevation of the land, the zone, and the 
climate naturally have considerable influence on the 
quality of the coffee. The Coffea Arabica seems to feel 
happy enough in a temperate zone and at elevations from 
1,500 to 2,300 feet. The States of Sao Paulo, Minas 
Geraes, Rio de Janeiro, and Espirito Santo fulfil most, if 
not all, these conditions. 
The coffee trees can stand cold, if not of long duration, 
down to freezing-point, as well as a fairly high tempera¬ 
ture. Unlike the Liberia coffee, they fare better on 
undulating or broken ground than on the flat. 
Two distinct seasons, the dry and the rainy, each of 
about six months’ duration, such as are found in the 
above-mentioned States of Brazil, seem perfectly to suit 
the growth of the coffee trees. The trees are in bloom 
for three or four days some time during the months of 
September to December. If the rains are not abundant 
when the trees are in blossom and during the maturing of 
the fruits, the latter do not develop properly, especially 
those at the end of the branches, where the berries become 
dry before their time or even do not form. If the rain 
comes too long before the trees are in bloom, it causes 
the blossoms to open before their time and they are fre- 
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