ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
quently spoiled by the cold which follows. The coffee 
beans are collected in April, during the dry weather. 
The coffee trees are very sensitive to winds, cold or 
hot, especially when blowing continuously in the same 
direction, which causes the undue fall of leaves and rup¬ 
ture of the bark at the neck of the roots. Wind, indeed, 
is one of the most dangerous enemies of coffee trees, and 
it is to obviate this danger that in many countries — but 
not in Brazil — a protecting plantation in lines of other 
trees, generally useful fruit trees, is adopted, in order to 
screen the coffee trees from the prevailing wind, as well 
as to give a further income from the fruit produced. 
It has been proved that even from good trees below 
a certain altitude the coffee is of inferior quality, while 
above that height the crop becomes irregular. In zones 
fully exposed to the sun, the quality is superior to that of 
regions where the sun does not reach or reaches for only 
a short portion of the day. 
The Coffea Arabica is not particularly exacting in the 
quality of the soil, but the soil on which it flourishes best 
is that formed in great part by decomposed vegetable 
matter, as, for instance, from ancient trees mixed with 
volcanic earth, such as the famous red earth of the State 
of Sao Paulo. Volcanic cinders also are said to be 
wonderful fertilizers for the soil, and well adapted to 
the welfare of coffee trees. 
One thing is undoubted, and that is that the State of 
Sao Paulo possesses the ideal soil for coffee plantations. 
Analysis has shown that, curiously enough, the soil of 
Sao Paulo is not in itself very rich. It has an insufficient 
quantity of fertilizing substances, particularly of lime; 
but it should not be forgotten that locality and climatic 
conditions must be taken into serious consideration, and 
that we must not be misled by the difference between the 
apparent and the real fertility of the soil. What would 
be a poor soil in Europe may prove to be an excellent 
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