FROM an obscure origin the habit of coffee-drinking has grown to be almost universal. That the natural home of the plant itself is Abyssinia or East Africa is generally known, but how its fruit came to be used in the making of a beverage is the subject of many legends. One ancient Mohammedan tradition tells how the superior of a monastery, observing that goats eating the coffee berries became very wakeful and lively at night, prepared a decoction of the berries, in order to keep his dervishes awake when the religious services at the mosque demanded their attention during the whole of the night. He proved the efficacy of the beverage, and recommended it to his co-religionists, who, on discovering that it was pleasant as well as useful, soon acquired the coffee habit, and frequently refreshed themselves throughout the day with the dark brown liquid.

So popular did coffee-drinking become amongst the faithful that one section endeavoured to put down the practice, which they looked upon as an evil. They alleged that it was an intoxicant, and as such was expressly forbidden by the Koran. Their religious zeal or bigotry was not, however, so powerful as the hold which the coffee bean had acquired over the people, and the custom of coffee-drinking, now time-honoured throughout the East, has spread, not only over the whole of Europe, but practically throughout the world.

The first coffee-house or cafÉ was established in Constantinople early in the sixteenth century, and its popularity was such as to arouse the hostility of the priesthood, who saw in the attractions of the cafÉ a serious menace to the attendances at the mosque. Thus that which according to legend had originated as an aid to worship, came to be regarded as an enemy to devotion, and a bitter feeling was aroused which persisted for many years.

For a century the habit was almost exclusively practised by the Orientals, but in the middle of the seventeenth century it spread to France and England. In the year 1652 a coffee-house was opened in London, in St. Michael’s Alley, Cornhill, and was the forerunner of many rival establishments that quickly opened throughout the capital.

These houses came to be frequented more particularly by the political and literary circles of the day, and in the reign of Charles II a royal proclamation was issued against coffee-shops, alleging them to be the rendezvous of disaffected persons; but this was not such an effective check upon the spread of the habit as was the imposition of a heavy tax upon the article. It is remarkable that although coffee, tea, and cocoa were all introduced into Europe about the same time, the preference for tea in England has been as steady as the predilection for coffee in France.

Until the end of the seventeenth century the chief source of the coffee supply was Arabia, but in 1690 the plant was introduced into Java by the Dutch, who also placed one specimen in the Botanical Gardens at Amsterdam as a curiosity, from which plant seeds were afterwards planted in Dutch Guiana. Indeed, from this one plant at Amsterdam the coffee plantations of the New World may be said to have sprung. The islands of the Caribbean Sea were soon supplied with seeds, and plantations were laid out in many localities, which experience proved were the most favourable for the production of the best crops. It is uncertain how the coffee plant came to be introduced into Brazil. One story is that a runaway from Cayenne took a few seeds to Para or MaranhÃo, somewhere about the year 1761, and that some years later two or three plants were conveyed from there to the city of Rio de Janeiro, where they were cultivated in a private garden, probably by way of a novelty. Even at the beginning of the nineteenth century the cultivation of coffee was not looked upon by the Brazilians as deserving of any serious attention, and they had not much use themselves, except as medicine, for the beverage which to-day is hardly ever out of their mouths.

The State of SÃo Paulo was the first to give serious attention to the cultivation of coffee, and as a result has reaped the reward of being the most prosperous State in the whole of Brazil. The interior of SÃo Paulo (which lies between 20° and 25° S. latitude) possesses a rich and productive soil, with a climate whose temperature and rainfall are eminently suited for the cultivation of many kinds of agricultural produce, and it was in the Campuias district that coffee was first planted and developed on an extensive scale. From this district the cultivation has spread all over the State, until SÃo Paulo is almost synonymous with the name of coffee. The rapid development of the industry has placed Brazil in the forefront of coffee-producing countries, and the annual output from its ports exceeds that of all other ports put together. To-day there are over 361.572.12 alqueires of land under coffee cultivation alone, whilst the prosperity of this industry has given an impetus to agriculture generally, and the growing of sugar, rice, maize, beans, tobacco, vine, and manioc, all engage the attention of farmers in the State.

A large number of “fazendas” or farms are in the hands of Brazilians themselves, and many more are worked and owned by persons of Italian, Portuguese, German, English, French, and Spanish nationalities. These coffee fazendas are all very much alike, and the traveller through the country is quickly impressed by the high state of cultivation that this profitable industry has developed. No visitor to SÃo Paulo should depart without seeing a fazenda, as the coffee plantation is called, and the hospitality and kindness of the Paulistas to strangers make a visit pleasurable as well as memorable.

The estate of Senhor Antonio Prado, a Brazilian gentleman who has done much for the beautifying of the capital, lies about 230 miles therefrom, and the journey by rail is through a country full of interest and beauty. The towns and villages that lie along the route are partially hidden by the dense foliage of the tropical vegetation that bespeaks the richness of the soil. The undulating hills through which the railway winds offer a change of view at every moment of the journey. The rich red earth accentuates and intensifies the green of the foliage, whilst the stain of it tinges everything it touches. The railway carriages, constructed on American models, are full of the fine red dust, and the passengers have a ruddy hue when they descend from a journey through the country. The whitewash of the buildings and cotton clothes of the peasants are all more or less tinted with the eternal red of the soil. The Prado fazenda, situated upon rising ground, is a low, one-story building encircled with verandahs. Brilliant-coloured flowers grow in front of it, luxurious creepers entwine themselves around the supports of its verandahs, and tall palms nod their heads above its roofs. The floors of broad, hard-wood planks are red with the stain of the all-pervading earth.

The “fazendiero” lives well, and his table groans under a plentiful variety of meat, vegetables, rice, bread, and sweetmeats, to which visitors and friends from neighbouring plantations are welcomed round the board. From the verandahs the view is extensive, a waving sea of green, except when the bloom is on the coffee plant, when the white flakes of colour suggest fallen snow, very refreshing to the eye in the intense heat.

A ride through the coffee trees on this estate could be extended for many miles, but the lanes and vistas are all very much alike, appealing most strongly to the sense of distance and extent.

Beyond the region planted lies the wild forest, thick woods almost impenetrable, save where patches of land, full of gaunt, half-burnt stumps, betoken clearings in process of being turned into plantations—a preparation that takes no little time and much labour.

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.

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.

The red and green berries left behind are floated down another cemented channel to a machine which detaches the outer skins of the red berries, leaving the beans, which are now separated from the green berries, still intact, by a process of sifting in revolving perforated drums. These beans are now spread out upon the terrain, as are also the green berries, to be sun-dried in their turn.

The time occupied in the drying process depends, of course, upon the sun, the black fruit generally drying in from eight to ten days. The beans of the red fruit, known as washed coffee, take time to colour, and after three or four days are banked up, and covered from the rain, until they assume the washed coffee colour. The green berries, in their turn, take longer, generally about twenty days.

When thoroughly dried, the berries and beans alike pass into a series of chambers called the Machina de Beneficiar CafÉ, where, by means of elaborate machinery, the berries are decorticated and the beans sorted in their various sizes. The husks and also the thin skins of the beans which are removed by winnowing are blown through a long tube to a heap outside, and preserved as manure, to be sprinkled between the trees and ploughed into the ground.

The beans, sorted into qualities of size and shape, are placed in sacks and sent by railway (which comes right alongside the Machina) down to Santos, the greatest shipping port for this product in the whole of Brazil.

The Martino Prado estate contributes about sixty thousand bags a year towards the annual output of over ten million bags which are exported from the State of SÃo Paulo.

As the productive life of a coffee tree may be estimated at about forty years its cultivation is attended with much profit, and a law has been enacted by the State to prevent too many estates being brought into existence. Planting to replace dead or unfruitful trees is in no way restricted, the aim being to keep the production of the commodity from getting out of hand and to prevent the world’s markets being flooded with more coffee than is ordinarily consumed.

It was in 1906-1907 that the danger of over-production first attracted the serious attention of the “faziendieros,” who became alarmed at the prospect of a great lowering of prices. The season’s yield had been a record one, and threatened to cause a fall in price that meant ruin to many of the planters, and a serious crisis to the State of SÃo Paulo, whose capital and resources were largely bound up in coffee culture. The Government had, in 1900, placed an almost prohibitive tax upon the creation of new plantations in order to check production and save the existing faziendieros from financial catastrophe, but were again faced with a perplexing situation, which resulted in the scheme of artificially upholding the price of coffee. With the assistance of the neighbouring States of Rio de Janeiro and Minas-Geraes, the SÃo Paulo Government bought up the necessary number of sacks to relieve the market, and by preserving the balance between supply and demand kept the price at a figure remunerative to the planters. The credit to purchase the overplus was effected by the three States already named, and was guaranteed by an extra tax of one shilling and eightpence upon each sack of coffee exported from Santos or Rio. By means of loans from foreign banks the Governments were able to purchase and keep out of the market eight million sacks of coffee already stored in different parts of the world, and as coffee improves by age, the surplus thus bought up is being gradually disposed of at an enhanced price. This operation has been the subject of much controversy, many economists looking upon it as initiating a dangerous policy, whilst others claim that it has been amply justified by the good results that have followed to the State.

There can be no doubt that had the exceptional yield of 1906-1907 reached the market, a fall in prices, disastrous alike to the planters and to the State, would have resulted. The smaller crops of the succeeding years have favoured the release of the stored surplus without any lowering of prices, and the bold experiment has so far been successful.

THE PRADO MANSION HOUSE, SÃO PAULO.