Part 4

In Venezuela, the plan followed in drying the coffee is this. The berries are spread out upon hurdles in the sun, where they undergo the vinous fermentation from fourteen to twenty days, and then dry. The beans are freed from the pulpy husk by a mill in two operations, and from the parchment, &c., by winnowing. Although a single tree may bear as much as 10 to 20 lbs., the average in Venezuela is under 2 lbs. An acre planted with 2560 trees yields there an annual crop of about 1100 lbs. of dry beans.

In ECUADOR coffee has of late greatly engrossed the attention of planters, from its superior quality and the increased demand; it commands a higher price than any other product of the country in proportion. As the people are everywhere dedicating themselves to its culture, in a few years it is probable that this country will export a considerable quantity. In 1855, 776 cwt. only were shipped; in 1861, although the harvest was exceedingly scanty, the exports were 1480 cwt.

GUATEMALA.--Some twenty years ago considerable plantations of coffee were made in different parts of the republic of Guatemala, and had the undertaking been followed up with proper and steady constancy and attention, it might, perhaps, by this time, have become an important article of export. Unfortunately its culture was abandoned, owing to the insurrections of the Indian population. Some attempts have been made again to introduce its culture by making fresh plantations, but hitherto not to any extent worthy of mention. The exports of coffee in 1860 were about 63 tons. In the department of Vera Paz, there are said to be now about half a million of coffee plants in bearing, and nurseries of about a million more plants will soon be ready for transplanting. The greater part of the plantations are situated in the neighbourhood of Coban, where the vicinity of Teleman, on the river Polochec, which disembogues into the gulf of Dulce, affords a convenient channel for shipping the produce.

SECTION IX.

CULTURE IN ARABIA.

The culture of coffee is principally carried on in Yemen, towards the districts of Aden and Mocha. The nearest coffee plantations are about eighty miles from Aden.

The coffee-growing country in the Yemen is 300 miles to the south of Jeddah, being the districts about Tohira, Uodeida, and Tanaa. Of this, the Turks have but little, their authority only extending over the narrow slip called the Tehana, in which is little coffee. They had till lately the export dues of all the coffee grown in Western Arabia, but they have lost a great part of them, a large quantity of coffee being sent to Aden for exportation. Mocha, the ancient port and capital, has completely fallen, and is in ruins. Its place is taken by Uodeida, the seat of government of the Yemen, and a Pashalic under Jeddah. In 1860, coffee to the value of 14,268_l._ was imported into Aden by sea, of 55,710_l._ was brought by land, and 45,344_l._ was exported. An enormous quantity is consumed in Arabia. Very little genuine Yemen coffee is procurable in Europe. It is difficult to obtain even in Jeddah. It is first mixed in the Yemen with inferior Abyssinian coffee, then mixed at Jeddah with damaged coffee, and probably in Egypt it is again mixed. Alexandria and Cairo are notorious for bad coffee.

It has been understood for several years that much of the coffee which finds its way into England as genuine Mocha is, in reality, Malabar coffee, sent to ports on the Persian Gulf from Bombay, and when thus naturalised, finding its way to Europe. But the coffee of India is now competing successfully with that of Arabia in markets which the latter had for centuries commanded as its own. In a few years the Indian article will entirely surpass the Arabian. It is the old story of enterprise originated and directed by Europeans driving competition out of the market. Seeing that the Arabs are in the habit of baking the cow-dung and cakes for food on the same wall, they cannot be suspected of any violent antipathy to dirt _per se_. But, passionate lovers as they are of a good cup of coffee, they can easily understand that an equal quantity of well-cleaned Malabar coffee is cheaper than that brought in the buggalows of the Nijd Arabs, and which is described as full of extraneous matter, such as pieces of the coffee-husk, &c. But the Indian coffee is actually sold cheaper, quantity for quantity. The consumption of Yemen coffee is now entirely confined to the wealthier chiefs; the finest kind, and that most sought after, being the small, of a light-green colour. Latterly, the Yemen coffee has been all sent to Bagdad, a compliment which the ancient city of the Sultans cannot fail to appreciate at its true value. It is too dear and too dirty for the poor Arabs of Bussorah, while the flavour of the Malabar kind is found closely to approximate to that of Yemen.

The coffee is generally grown half way up the slopes of the hills, but some is cultivated on lower ground, surrounded by large trees for shade. The harvest is gathered at three periods of the year, the principal being in May. Cloths are spread under the trees, which are shaken, that the ripe fruit may drop. The berries are then collected and exposed to the sun on mats to dry. A heavy roller is afterwards passed over the berries, to break the envelopes, and the husk is winnowed away with a fan. The berries are further dried before being stored.

Arabian coffee was first cultivated by the Dutch, and some of their plants sent by the French to the West Indies, where it is now successfully cultivated. So that one has a difficulty in deciding where it is indigenous, as it is a much more important article of agriculture in the West Indies, Java, Ceylon, and Southern India, than in its native countries.

In Syria the coffee-plant is of natural growth; but as the European writers who were engaged in the Crusades do not mention it, it could not have been much used during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Bruce affirms that the qualities of it were well known in Africa, and that the Gallae, a wandering tribe, which was obliged to traverse the deserts, carried no other provision than balls compounded of coffee and butter, one of which would keep them in health and spirits through a day’s journey better than any other kind of food. In the Royal Library at Paris is an Arabian manuscript, containing a voluminous history of coffee, in which it is said that Gemaleddin-Ahou-Abdallah, Mufti of Aden, first introduced its use among the Turks, upon his return from Persia, where he had experienced the beneficial effects of it as a common beverage. The effendi, the kadi, and all the inferior officers of the government, followed the example of this chief of the law. The use of coffee descended through the harem to the house of every merchant, and the town of Aden set the example to the rest of Arabia.

SECTION X.

CULTIVATION IN CEYLON.

In 1824, Sir Edward Barnes and Sir George Bird commenced coffee-planting in Ceylon on a large scale. Others followed gradually, but the real rush for land dates from 1833. There are now 250,000 acres owned by coffee-planters, of which 100,000 are cleared and cultivated.

In Ceylon coffee succeeds best at an elevation from 1200 to 4800 feet; the quantity, generally speaking, lessening, but the quality improving with the elevation. By the natives a little of inferior description is grown in the low country. In 1855 there were about 150 estates belonging to Europeans, comprising 30,000 acres of cultivated ground, to which considerable additions have since been made. 400,000 cwt. was exported in 1853, and 783,393 cwt. in 1863.

The railroad forming from Colombo to Kandy, and the opening up of new roads, have rendered more land accessible, and the large clearances made in the forest at the high elevations will probably so improve the climate of those localities that a still further addition to the available land will be obtained. It is, therefore, not too much to expect the export, which in the last five years has on the average exceeded 630,000 cwt. per annum, will in less than a quarter of a century be more than doubled. In the fourteen years ending with 1862, Ceylon has sent into the markets of the world the following quantity of coffee:

cwts. £ Plantation 4,625,995 of the value of 11,310,518 Native growth 1,945,623 “ 3,492,290 --------- ---------- 6,571,618 14,802,808

Elevation must ever be an important consideration; though we have no doubt that by the use of manures coffee might be made to do well and bear to a limited extent at the level of the sea in Ceylon. We believe this to be, however, so completely artificial, that it will never again be tried whilst land is available from 1500 feet and upwards of elevation, where the plant grows vigorously without more than ordinary care being bestowed. The general effect of elevation may be described very shortly; the lower ranges, with fair soil, produce the heaviest crops and the soonest after planting, whilst the plantations on higher elevations produce smaller crops, but a finer quality of produce, and take a longer time to come into full bearing. There are many circumstances which go to produce climate, besides differences of elevation. On a plantation formed in a large district of forest yet uncleared, the climate will be colder and more moist than when the formation of other estates has cleared away the forest around it. The proximity of a high mountain peak, or being situated on the shoulder of a mountain which towers to a great elevation above the level of the plantation, will also produce more cold and wet than if the garden were opened on a lower range and to the full height of such a position. Plate 4, for instance, shows such a locality in the view of Konda-galla estate, near Neura-ellia, Ceylon. At low elevations long continued dry weather is more frequent than on the higher ranges, inasmuch as the clouds are frequently broken by the distant hills before they reach; and when there is no rain about, estates on the higher ranges are less parched, and atmospherically enjoy a moisture of which the lower hills are destitute. Still these various conditions are only advantageous or hurtful under varying circumstances; high elevation, cold and wet, and low elevation, heat, and drought, are alike unfavourable as prevailing characteristics; it is their due and seasonable admixture

which is found most favourable to the profitable production of the coffee-plant. Perhaps the least favourable localities are those high positions where the natural vegetation is of the alpine character; in such positions the plant will only struggle for an existence; it therefore follows that the land selected should be well under these extreme elevations.

Soil of all kinds has had its advocates, and in turn been condemned by all. Depth and freeness are perhaps its most favourable states; dark black mould is always good; but wherever there is sufficiency of depth found beneath a virgin forest, at the proper elevation and climate, coffee has come on successfully. The land which has by general opinion been condemned as unfit for continued production is that covered with small jungle after the original forest has been cut down, and the land made to produce a rich crop for the natives. Perhaps it may be the exposure of the soil to the sun, and exhaustion by the large weeds which it produces, which are so injurious to it. The modern system of manuring is rapidly equalising the value of all soils, though deep lands on a limestone bottom, or strewed with granite boulders, are always considered highly favourable for coffee cultivation. The proximity of land to roads is a point of great importance in its selection, both as directly and indirectly affecting the outlay in forming a plantation, and probably for a long time determining the large item of expense under the head of transport of produce.

Felling and clearing, as the name implies, is cutting down the jungle and burning it off, so as to leave the land clear for planting. It is conducted as follows. Beginning from the lower part of the land and working upwards, the undergrowth, or small jungle, is cut down with catties or bill-hooks, leaving the forest trees free and open for the labours of the axemen. Likewise beginning from the lowest part of the field, the labourers, generally village Singhalese, who are extremely expert at this work, cut the trees nearly through by notches at the lower and upper sides, gradually retiring up the hill, until a tree of larger dimensions is cut, and being sent down, crashes all the others beneath it. When this is cleverly managed, several acres will often be opened to the daylight at one time; much, however, depends upon the steepness of the ascent and the heaviness of the forest. On the highest elevations the trees are smallest, and come down lightest, and on the lower elevations it may frequently happen that for acres and acres the trees are of that immense size that every log has required four men to cut it from the stump. Not unfrequently some of these trees have such projecting roots that the axemen have to erect stages around them to reach the ordinary trunk, which will each give employment for six hours to four men to cut through. After the trees have been felled, the lopping has to be attended to; this is to cut off all the tops and branches, and in some cases to cut the trunks across, so that the mass cut down may lay compactly and dry, as upon this depends much of the success of the burning, and, therefore, the economy of the operation. Small or light forest is often the most expensive to lop, from the lifeless fall of the trees, and the comparatively greater quantity of head and branch; whereas tall and heavy forest trees fly as it were under the axe from the stump, and in falling break themselves and all beneath them; in this manner some heavy forests cost less to clear than a lighter growth. The clearing having been left from six weeks to about two months, according to the weather, is fired, which is done generally by setting fire to it chiefly at _the lower ends_ in several places; by this means the fire is soon connected, and burning in the dryest or first cut down portions, unites in a sweeping flame, rushes up the hill, destroying all before it; such is the power of the flame from below, that when the burning is successful the part last cut, probably many acres, and yet lying green upon the ground, is consumed with the rest. After the flame has passed away, nothing should be seen but the smoking black logs of the large trees, which, wherever they cross each other and do not lay upon the ground, require to be cut across and brought down. If the operation has been successfully managed, the land is now in readiness for the next operation--_Lining_, or staking out the positions of the intended plants. This is performed in many ways, but it is essential to have it done well, that the plants should make perfect lines across the ground to be planted, in order to maintain regularity in the plantation work, and give the best possible appearance to the field; therefore no expense necessary to ensure its correct and workmanlike performance should be grudged. The simplest method is by means of a line, with marks placed at equal distances for the spaces between the plants up the hill. This carried by men at each end, who respectively measure a distance with a rod for that purpose from the last peg, and holding the line taught from end to end; boys following with pegs ready cut put them in at the marks on the line. This method is likely to lead to inaccuracy on a large feature, in consequence of the irregularity of the ground, and from the small inaccuracies accumulating in the measurement between each laying down of the line. A better way is to lay out a feature in squares of the line, and these into parallels across the feature, and then drop the line between each peg on the parallels, putting in the remaining pegs by the marks on the line. Some planters have an excellent plan of laying down a number of lines up and down the hill at measured distances, and then two men with a shorter line measure distances upwards on the two outside lines, and peg-men put in their sticks at the points where the lines cross each other. We have seen some plantations laid out by the use of the theodolite, but this is not an instrument to be found on many estates. The object to be gained in lining is to carry the plants in straight lines parallel to each other, at the same bearing over the whole estate, and to make them cross each other at right angles; by this means lines will be formed four ways, at the two right angles and at the two diagonals. When this has been successfully achieved, there is, under any circumstances, a workmanlike character about the plantation; vacancies in the planting are more easily detected, the arrangements for weeding, picking, pruning, and manuring are made without confusion. Diagonal lines across the features of land are said to be best, inasmuch as the stems of the trees by this arrangement offer somewhat more resistance to the washing down of soil by the rains.

Much argument has been held as to the proper distances at which coffee-trees should be planted; and in visiting the various districts it will be seen that all distances and all forms have been resorted to. The result of this extended experiment has produced a very general opinion in favour of close planting; that is, 6 feet by 6 feet, or 5 feet by 6 feet, or 4 feet 9 inches by 5 feet. The reasons in favour of close planting are these, that the extra number of plants to the acre is followed in the first two crops at least by a proportionate increase of crop. By close planting weeds are hindered from growing, and, what is of more consequence still, the ground is sooner covered by the growing plants, and therefore protected from the sun, exposure to which is found to impoverish more than anything else the surface soil, from which the plant chiefly seeks its nourishment. With an average good soil, and careful handling of the trees and manuring, it is found that closely-planted coffee may be made to continue to bear highly; that is, in proportion to the extra number of plants to the acre. Close planting is serviceable in enabling the plants to outlive the effect of exposure to high winds, which in some places are most destructive. The next proceeding is _holing_ (which, as its name implies, is to make holes in preparation for planting the coffee, at the distances staked out by the lining). As coffee is planted in a virgin soil, which cannot be cleared of roots, rocks, and logs, for the operation of the plough, and were it cleared of these the disturbance of the soil would probably cause it to be carried away by the heavy rains; holes have to be made, and the larger these are, the nearer the approach is to that movement of the soil, which in general sets at liberty its fertilising properties. Holes are made from 18 inches to 2 feet every way, into which before planting the surface soil is scraped with a hoe. It is customary to contract for this work, which I believe is generally performed now with a sort of crowbar having a spud blade at one end; with these the roots of trees are cut through and rocks and stones taken out, the loosened soil being removed with the hand or with a cocoa-nut shell. This tool is furnished to the Singhalese because they prefer to sit down and work leisurely, but where men can be employed at day-wages, and provided with mattocks to break the soil and cut out the roots and stones, and hoes to clear out the loosened earth, the same work may be far more economically performed, inasmuch as the labourers being on their feet give not only their arms, but their whole body, to the exertion, and have not to raise themselves from a sitting position between each hole they have to make.

SECTION XI.

BUILDINGS, PLANTING, &c., IN CEYLON.

These comprise a bungalow for the manager, lines, or huts, for the labourers, and pulping-house and store for the preparation and reception of the crop.

Plate 5 shows the main works and buildings at Messrs. Worms’ estates, Puselawa, Ceylon.

The position of the pulping-house should influence the selection of the spots for the other buildings, unless other circumstances determine it. The bungalow should, if possible, be an easy distance from the store, that the manager may without difficulty superintend the work, which at crop time is going on often at night as well as in the daytime. One set of lines for the labourers, for the same reason, should be near to the store, another set may be erected more centrically with reference to the field labour of the estate.

With reference to lines and bungalow, especially the latter, they will be erected according to the manager’s taste, and in a great measure depend upon the material to be obtained in the particular locality for constructing them. True economy will be practised in making permanent and substantial dwellings which will require only slight repairs occasionally.

The selection of the land for the pulping-house and stores and drying-ground is all important, and should only be attempted by a resident manager to whom a long residence on the plantation has afforded an intimate acquaintance with every feature of the land. The advantages which have to be

sought and combined are, availability of water power, both to drive the machinery and for a water-course to the pulper, on a site convenient to the fields from which the crop is to be brought, and so level that it may be fitted for its purposes at the least possible expense.

Water power is not always used, nor is it available on every estate; but as there may be often good reasons to adopt it afterwards, it should always be considered in the primary arrangements. It may be applied to so many economic objects--saw-mills, drying apparatus, &c.--that it should always be applied, if possible, to everything undertaken on the estate requiring a moving power.

Plate 6 is an exterior view of a pulping-house on Messrs. Worms’ estates, Puselawa.