COFFEE ESTATES 
next great coffee estate, belonging to the Dumont Com¬ 
pany, an English concern, with an authorized capital of 
£800,000, the estates being valued at £1,200,000. It is 
not often one sees an estate so beautifully managed and 
looked after in a country like Brazil. The buildings, the 
machinery, the “ drying terraces,” everything was in capi¬ 
tal order. To indicate on what scale the company does 
business, it will be sufficient to state that in 1911 the coffee 
crop amounted to 109,368 hundredweight, which realized 
on a gross average 56s. IO^cZ. per hundredweight. This 
crop was not as plentiful as in the previous year, when 
110,558 hundredweight were harvested. The gross profit 
for the year up to June 21, 1911 was £123,811 2s. 5d 
which, less London charges, still showed the substantial 
sum of £119,387 11s. 8 d. There had been a considerable 
rise in the rate at which coffee was sold in 1911—viz., 
56s. per hundredweight as compared with 41s. 8^2^* 
the previous year; but notwithstanding the high price, 
the high rate of exchange, and the cost of laying the coffee 
down in London—which had risen on the estate by Is. 
liy^d. and by Is. 3 y^d. in respect of charges between the 
estate and London — the Company had been able to earn 
a profit of 20s. 4per hundredweight. 
I was taken round the estate by Mr. J. A. Davy, the 
general manager, whose good and sensible work was 
noticeable at every turn. The trees seemed in excellent 
condition and likely to have a long life on the specially 
suitable, rich red soil, where sufficient breathing space 
was allowed to maintain them in good health. The soil 
was of such unusual richness in that particular spot that 
no artificial stimulation was required in order to keep the 
trees healthy and vigorous. One could walk for miles 
and miles along the beautiful groves of coffee trees, 
clean-looking with their rich, deep green foliage. 
There seemed to be no great difficulty on the Dumont 
estate in obtaining sufficient labour—greatly owing, I 
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