COLLECTION OF THE BERRIES 
produces great damage. Birds pick and destroy the 
berries when ripe; and caterpillars are responsible for the 
absolute devastation of many coffee districts in the Rio 
de Janeiro and Sao Paulo States. Other pests of the 
Heteroptera type attack the roots to such an extent as to 
cause the death of the trees. 
Among the diseases of the trees are the Aphelencus 
Cojfece and the Loranthus brasiliensis — the latter a 
terrible parasite, which quickly envelops the stem and 
branches of the tree and ends by killing it. 
The collection of the berries is the busiest process in 
the fazendas, and has to be performed with considerable 
care, for some of the berries are already ripe and dried 
when others hidden under the branches have not yet 
reached the required degree of maturity. An experienced 
hand can collect from 400 to 450 litres of coffee berries 
per day. It takes an average of 100 litres of coffee berries 
to produce 15 kilos of prepared coffee beans ready to be 
shipped. The crop is not the same every year. After one 
plentiful crop there generally succeeds one year, some¬ 
times two or three, of poor — almost insignificant — 
collections, varying according to the care that is taken of 
the trees and the soil. 
When once the coffee has been collected and trans¬ 
ported to the fazenda in baskets, blankets, and sheets, it 
is necessary to remove the skin and viscous, pulpy matter 
which envelop the beans. This is done partly by macera¬ 
tion in water tanks, and afterwards by drying upon 
extensive, flat terraces, tiled or cemented, and locally 
called terreiro. The process of drying by machinery has 
not been adopted in Brazil; principally because of its high 
cost. The coffee is first placed for some days in mounds 
on the terraces, until fermentation of the outer skin begins, 
which afterwards hastens desiccation when coffee is spread 
flat in a thin layer on the terraces. When once the coffee 
berries have been freed from their pulpy envelope and 
29 
