A Tour Through South America

by A. S. Forrest

A COFFEE FAZENDIERO.

The formation of a plantation occupies four years before the trees bear fruit. The trees are raised from seed in the nurseries, and the young shrubs planted out in regular rows from eight to nine feet apart, the work being carried out by colonies of settlers who are of many nationalities. These colonies are scattered up and down the estate, and are housed in rows of neat dwellings, with tiled roofs and whitewashed walls. They form tiny villages, each with its own type of inhabitants, its own manners and customs according to the nationality of the settlers. As a rule, a family have a certain number of trees to look after, and their work of weeding, tending, and picking is confined to one portion of the estate, upon which there are 2,300,000 trees, varying from thirteen to thirty-three years of age. The work is divided amongst eight colonies, comprising 360 families, in all about 2800 souls—Italian, Swiss, Spanish, Austrian, Portuguese, Brazilians, and about sixty Japanese. The trees are planted in squares of about 5000 trees, and a man and his wife can look after about 4000 trees. The picking of the berries commences in the month of May, and goes on till October, whilst from October to May the work of cleaning the grounds of weeds is in full swing. Harrows, drawn by mules and horses, are employed upon the broader passages between the trees, but for the narrower divisions the hoe is used. The long avenues stretch out in all directions, lanes of red earth five and six miles long in straight, unbroken lines from eight to twenty feet high on either side. These trees are always green, and four times in the season beautiful pure white flowers burst forth to relieve the monotony of colour. The first flowers appear in July, and last for eight days, leaving behind a small growing berry to develop and ripen. There are three other flowering periods until the end of October, and the fruit or berries formed from the flowers are in progressive stages of ripening during the picking season. Thus there is a continual flowering and picking of the coffee during the same months, and the pickers have to take care that they only pull the ripened berries. This, however, is not difficult, as the young and newly formed berries have a firmer attachment to the trees than the older and ripened fruit. The crop of berries plucked at the beginning of the season in May are black, being the fruit of the first flowers of the preceding year. Red berries are the fruit of the second flowers, and green berries of the third. The proper time for pulling is when the green berries of the previous years are full. The hand is drawn along the branch, which is thus stripped of all but the young berries of the current year. Then the pulled berries are taken in carts drawn by mules or oxen to the “lavadors” or washing tanks.

There are several kinds of coffee cultivated upon this estate, a practice quite common among the fazendieros of São Paulo. One variety, the “Bourbon,” is an early and regular producer, and for this reason is largely cultivated, since the fever of production seized the planters, in consequence of the rise in the price of coffee. This variety does not grow very high nor bear large-sized beans. Its life is shorter than many other varieties, it is sensitive and delicate, its branches lacking in flexibility, and it does not yield very large quantities of fruit. But against all these disadvantages, the planters set the fact that it can be grown rapidly, bringing a quick return to the owner.

COLONISTS’ HOUSES AT MARTINO PRADO.

The common or native coffee tree has, however, most to commend it. It is strong, hardy, and well acclimatised, and has a long life, while its beans are large, and sell for the highest prices upon the market. Long experience has determined that it is the plant best adapted for the climate, and its flexible branches render the operation of gathering a simple one, which does not render the tree liable to damage. Its only drawback is the irregularity of its crop, which is good and poor in alternating years.

All the older plantations are stocked with this variety, and there is no doubt that, in spite of other considerations, it is destined to remain when the “Bourbon” variety shall have disappeared.

The “Bomcatu” or “Amarello” is a variety very similar to the common coffee, but has yellow berries, whilst the “Murta” is another variety which is very little grown, having too great an abundance of foliage at the expense of the fruit.

At the “terrains” the gathered coffee is sorted by an ingenious process.

The berries, black, red, and green all mixed together, are put into a tank of water, and the black berries being the lightest, float to the surface, and are run off along a cemented channel to a large concreted terrace, where they are spread out to dry in the sun.