THE SOIL 
one in a tropical country. So the famous “red earth” 
of Sao Paulo, which in a drier climate would be sterile 
and unproductive, is there excellent because of its 
extremely permeable, porous, and powdery qualities. 
The special terms used for naming the different kinds 
of earth suitable for the cultivation of coffee are: terra 
rocca (red earth), massape, salmorao, catanduva, terra 
de areia (sand earth), picarra (stony earth), and 
pedreguelho (stony earth). 
The terra rocca is an argillaceous, ferruginous earth 
of diabasic origin, occasionally mixed with sand. It con¬ 
tains salicylic acid, oxide of iron, alumina, phosphoric acid, 
oxide of manganese, lime, magnesia, potash, and soda. 
The massape, originally decomposed gneiss-granitic 
rock mixed with clay, contains oxide of iron. Its occa¬ 
sional blackness is due to the decomposed vegetable matter 
it embodies. 
The salmorao includes in its formation small stones, 
indicating the incomplete decomposition of the rock from 
which it originates. 
The catanduva , which is of inferior quality, is com¬ 
posed of much disintegrated vegetable matter and fine 
dust. 
The names of the other kinds of earth well denote their 
quality. 
One reason why coffee cultivation is so popular in 
Brazil is because of the general belief that no trouble is 
required to look after the trees — a very mistaken notion 
indeed. There is a marked difference between plantations 
carefully looked after and those that are not. More 
than usual care must be taken to select the seed for new 
plantations. The young plants must become strong in 
a nursery and then be transplanted into proper soil, the 
prudent distance between trees being generally from nine 
to twelve feet. For the convenience of collecting the 
beans and keeping the soil clean, a perfect alignment in 
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