Coffee merchandising

Coffee grows best in rock ground that pulverizes easily, and, if possible, of volcanic origin. The plant favors a temperate climate within the Tropics. It requires about 70 inches of rainfall supplied evenly throughout the year. It will flourish from sea level up to 6,000 feet, but the quality improves the higher the elevation. Robusta and Liberica do well in the lower levels, but Arabica thrives best in the hills or high table lands.

Coffee trees are grown most generally from seeds planted in shaded nursery beds. Germination takes place in about six weeks. Usually the plantation is laid out on heavily wooded and sloping ground. The forest trees having been cleared and the ground prepared, the young plants are transferred when about a year old. They are set out in shallow holes at regular intervals of eight to 12 or even 14 feet apart. In the triangle or hexagon system they are planted in the form of an equilateral triangle, each tree being the same distance (usually eight or nine feet) from its six nearest neighbors.

Shade and windbreak trees are provided for Arabica in countries subjected to strong chilly winds and intensely hot sunlight. Hand plows and horse-drawn cultivators are employed to cultivate the ground between the rows.

If left to grow, the coffee tree may reach a height of 40 feet; so the planter prunes regularly after the first crop to keep it from six to 12 feet. This makes for a quality bean and facilitates picking. The tree bears its first crop at three years and is in full bearing from the sixth to the 15th years, though some trees give paying crops for 30 years. The production varies from half a pound to eight pounds annually, and 12 pounds have been gathered from a single tree.

There are numerous pests and diseases that attack the trees, the worst known being a leaf disease (Hemileia vastatrix), which destroyed the Ceylon coffee industry in 1869.

The beauty of a coffee estate in flower is of a very fleeting character. One day it is a snowy expanse of fragrant white blossoms for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see, and two days later the soft, gentle winds have blown them all away. The flowers are beautiful, but the eye of the planter sees in them not alone beauty and fragrance. He looks beyond and in his mind’s eye sees bags and bags of green coffee, representing to him the goal and reward of all his toil and worry.

Coffee cultivation methods are pretty much the same in all coffee-producing countries, but there are always certain local variations. In Brazil’s coffee belt there are two seasons,—the wet, running from September to March, and the dry, running from April to August. The coffee trees are in bloom from September to December. Here the blossoms last about four days, and are easily beaten off by light winds or rains. If the rains or winds are violent, the green berries may be similarly destroyed; so that great damage may be caused by unseasonable rains and storms.

The harvest usually begins in April or May, and extends well into the dry season. Even in the picking season, heavy rains and strong winds—especially the latter—may do considerable damage, for in Brazil shade trees and windbreaks are the exception.

Approximately 25 percent of the São Paulo plantations are cultivated by machinery. A type of cultivator very common is similar to the small corn plow used in the United States. The Planet Junior, manufactured by a well-known United States agricultural-machinery firm, is the most popular cultivator. It is drawn by a small mule, with a boy to lead it, and a man to drive and guide the plow.

In Colombia, the coffee tree bears its first crop when four or five years old. The trees are not subject to unusual hazards from the attacks of injurious insects or parasitic diseases, and on the whole their cultivation is rather easy.

In Java, the climate and soil have long been ideal for coffee culture, although in recent years the soil in some districts has shown the need of fertilizer. Robusta grows well even at altitudes below 1,000 feet, but its bearing life is only 10 years, as compared with the 30 years of Arabica at altitudes of 3,000 to 4,000 feet. On some of the highland plantations pruning is not considered necessary and the trees reach 30 or 40 feet in height. With climate and soil similar to Java, the island of Sumatra has the added advantage that the land is not “coffee moe,” or “coffee tired,” as is the case in parts of Java.

In Salvador the coffee trees begin bearing when they are two or three years old, reaching full maturity at seven or eight years and lasting for 30 years.

Coffee cultivation in Guatemala has reached a high degree of perfection. The most modern methods are employed. The trees flower in February, March, and April.

Coffee cultivation in Mexico, more especially in Soconusco, near the border of Guatemala, reflects the influence of Guatemalan methods.

The soil, climate, and temperature all favor coffee cultivation in Porto Rico, where the virgin land of the interior requires less labor in its preparation than in other coffee-growing countries. It is cleared in the usual manner, the trees are planted eight feet apart, and hoeing and spading take the place of plow cultivation because of the lay of the land.

Costa Rica, in its San José and Cartago districts, has a rich volcanic soil especially adaptable to coffee cultivation.

In India, much cultivating has been done under the shade of the original jungle trees. Arabica is favored. Robusta and Maragogipe have been tried, but without much success.

Nicaragua has a soil that will grow coffee well in altitudes of 2,000 to 3,000 feet. Transportation is poor and costly.

In Abyssinia, the natives plant the trees in rows about 12 to 15 feet apart, but pay little attention to cultivation.

In Arabia, land for the coffee gardens is selected on hill slopes, and is terraced with soil and small walls of stone until it reaches up like an amphitheater, often to a considerable height. The soil is well fertilized. For sowing, the seeds are thoroughly dried in ashes, and, after being placed in the ground, are carefully watched, watered, and shaded. In about a year, the shrub has grown to a height of 12 or more inches. Seedlings in that condition are set out in the gardens in rows, 10 to 13 feet apart. The young trees receive moisture from neighboring wells or from irrigation ditches, and are shaded by bananas.

At maturity the trees reach a height of 10 or 15 feet. Since they never lose all their leaves at one time, they appear always green, and bear at the same time flowers and fruits, some of which are still green while others are ripe or approaching maturity. Thus, in some districts, the trees are considered to have two or even three crops a year. All the trees begin to bear about the end of the third year.

Inefficient methods of cultivation for many years retarded the development of coffee growing on the island of Haiti, but recently there has been some improvement. Most of the coffee is Arabica. The trees blossom twice before bearing, in January and April-May.

No shade is needed for coffee growing in Panama, and the only cultivation consists of three or four cleanings a year to keep down the weeds. No plowing is required.

Advanced methods of planting and cultivation are being followed in French Indo-China and British East Africa, fostered by the French and British governments.

In Hawaii, the volcanic soil lends itself easily to successful coffee cultivation. Coffee trees in Kona are planted principally in the open, though sometimes they are shaded by the native kukui trees. They are grown from seed in nurseries; and the seedlings, when one year old, are transplanted in regular lines nine feet apart. In two years a small crop is gathered, yielding five to 12 bags of cleaned coffee an acre. At three years, the trees produce eight to 20 bags of cleaned coffee an acre, and from that time they are fully matured. The ripening season is between September and January, and there are two principal pickings. Many plantations are cultivated by Japanese labor.

Conditions of soil and climate are favorable to coffee cultivation in the Philippines, labor is cheap and abundant, but enterprise is lacking.