Coffee tree

“ Coffee is cultivated in many countries lying between fifteen north and fifteen south latitude. It may be successfully grown thirty degrees from the equator. Like the tea plant, the coffee shrub favors the well watered mountain slopes. The trees are set in long, straight rows, six feet apart, and six feet from each other in the row. The coffee tree is naturally a plant with long, straggling shoots, but under cultivation it is pruned to make a shrub not exceeding six feet in height, with long, lateral branches. A full crop should be obtained the third year. ”

“ 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{334} 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. ”

“ Care should be taken to leave the stem of the tree clear of shoots and foliage for a space of six inches from the stem; the tree will want all the light it can get. The coffee tree can be said to be in full bearing when all the primaries are carrying bearing secondaries. During the life of the coffee tree, the planter must keep a close watch on his trees and restrict their wood-bearing propensities to the wood that is to bear his crops; nothing else should be allowed to grow. ”

“ On the larger plantations, pruning is an important part of the cultivation processes. If left to their own devices, coffee trees sometimes grow as high as forty feet, the strength being absorbed by the wood, with a consequent scanty production of fruit. To prevent this undesirable result, and to facilitate picking, the trees on the more modern plantations are pruned down to heights ranging from six to twelve feet. Except for pruning the roots when transplanting, the tree is permitted to grow until after producing its first full crop before any cutting takes place. ”

“ It is important to remember that, in many parts of an estate, as the shade trees become lofty the sun will come in, just as it would on a man's head if he carried his umbrella erect, and at the end of a long pole, and I have seen coffee trees so much exposed to the sun as to require fresh shade to be planted near them, not withstanding that some of the coffee trees in question were almost touching the stem of a very tall shade tree. When the planter observes that the sun is thus likely to come in from the shooting up of the shade trees, he should plant fresh shade. ”

“ The coffee tree is a most serviceable plant, every part of which can be used. Its wood is much used in cabinet making, and makes excellent fuel; its leaves, properly torrefied, and then stewed in boiling water, give a palatable kind of tea; from the sweet pulp of its fruit an agreeable liqueur can be distilled; from its beans can be made the beverage we all know, and from the shells and residue of the fruit a good fertilizer can be produced. ”

“ The mode of forming a coffee-plantation is simply to go into the woods (where the tree abounds) , select the wild coffee tree, and transport it into the prepared field. The indigenous coffee-tree of Liberia produces fruit of a superior quality, larger and finer flavored, than that of the West Indies. But the cultivation, I think, is conducted upon wrong principles. Instead of having large plantations, with no other vegetables on the land, let every man intermingle a few coffee trees with the corn, cassada, and other vegetables in his garden or fields. ”

“ The coffee tree can be propagated in a way other than by seeds. The upright branches can be used as slips, which, after taking root, will produce seed-bearing laterals. The laterals themselves can not be used as slips. In Central America the natives sometimes use coffee uprights for fences and it is no uncommon sight to see the fence posts "growing." ”

“ This one plantation produces twenty million pounds of coffee annually and there are thirty railroad stations upon it.
A well kept coffee tree is about twelve feet high when full grown. The leaves are a shiny green, a little like holly. The trees bloom in September and fill the air with fragrance. As the white blossoms fade the berries begin to form. May is the harvest time. Harvest hands come in large numbers as they do in Kansas or the Dakotas during the wheat harvest. Workmen are paid according to the amount they gather and some of them gather fifty pounds a day. ”

“ Composition of Coffee.—The coffee tree is an evergreen cultivated in the tropics. It grows to a height of 30 feet, but when cultivated is kept pruned to from 6 to 10 feet. The fruit, which resembles a small cherry, with two seeds or coffee grains embedded in the pulp, is dried and the seeds removed, cleaned, and graded. ”

“ Experiments have proved that the coffee-tree can also be successfully cultivated at a height of 600 meters, and still lower down, by moderating the glare of the sun with adequate shades and by pruning to correct excessive growth and fructification. ”

“ The genus Coffea, to which the common coffee tree belongs, contains about 25 species in the tropics of the Old World, mainly African. Besides being found wild in Abyssinia, the common coffee plant appears to be widely disseminated in Africa, occurring wild in the Mozambique district, on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, and in Angola on the west coast. The coffee leaf disease in Ceylon brought into prominence Liberian coffee (C. liberica) , a native of the west coast of Africa, now extensively grown in several parts of the world. ”

“ Coffee grows wild in many parts of the Protectorate, but the natives are too lazy to pick even the wild berries.
On the more advanced plantations in all parts of Africa the approved cultivation methods of other leading countries are carefully followed; especial care being given to weeding and pruning, because of the rank growth of the tropics. On the whole, however, little attention is given to intensive methods.
Arabia. Whether the coffee tree was first discovered indigenous in the mountains of Abyssinia, or in the Yemen district of Arabia, will probably always be a matter of contention. ”

“ This is the worst kind of soil for the coffee tree, whose long tap-root is ever seeking nourishment from beneath. On this soil it is very common to see a young plantation giving great promise; but as the trees increase in growth the tap-root reaches the clay subsoil and the plantation immediately falls off. The subsoil is of far more importance to the coffee-tree than the upper surface; the latter may be improved by manure, but if the former is bad there is no remedy. ”

“ On some plantations it has become the practise to grow catch crops between the rows of coffee trees, both as a means of obtaining additional revenue and to shade the young coffee plants. Corn, beans, cotton, peanuts, and similar plants are most generally used.
Pests and Diseases. The coffee tree, its wood, foliage, and fruit, have their enemies, chief among which are insects, fungi, rodents (the "coffee rat") , birds, squirrels, and—according to Rossignon—elephants, buffalo, and native cattle, which have a special liking for the tender leaves of the coffee plant. ”

“ This is a good shade tree. Coffee thrives well under it, and wherever it exists, or may have sprung up accidentally in the plantation, it should be preserved, but it is not, I consider, a desirable tree to plant, as it is a slow grower and not a wide spreader. ”

“ The Coffee Tree Thrives in the Lava Soil of South Kona, Island of Hawaii
Guam. Coffee is one of the commonest wild plants on the little island of Guam. It grows around the houses like shade trees or flowering shrubs, and nearly every family cultivates a small patch. Climate and soil are favorable to it; and it flourishes, with abundant crops, from the sea-level to the tops of the highest hills. ”

“ When ripe, the coffee berries resemble very much a cranberry of medium size. Then the coffee field is again a pretty picture, for the white flowers have turned into beautiful red berries, and the bushes resemble richly loaded cherry trees. The tree will produce abundant crops after the sixth year, and I saw fields that were at least thirty-five years old, and still bearing profitable crops. It is said that the coffee trees will produce as long as the life of man. There are two kinds of trees cultivated in Brazil: the common and the yellow-berried, or Botucatu, and generally called the Bourbon. ”

“ In countries where the coffee-tree is cultivated the leaves are used to make an infusion which by many persons is held to be superior to the infusion from the berry. Hitherto they have not been an article of commerce, and the planter has studied to obtain as large a crop as possible of the berry, neglecting the leaves. But if a demand for the latter should spring up in foreign countries, the planter would find it as profitable to cultivate the coffee-tree for its leaves as for its fruit. ”

“ When a tree cannot be felled between the rows, it may often be felled so as to fall into the fork of an adjacent tree, and there it may be either left till it decays or let gently down to the ground, if the stem is a thin one. Bamboo ladders should be used to ascend the tree up to the first branch, as, though coolies can readily ascend without them, their bare legs are apt to suffer, and it is for this reason that coolies often try to shirk joining the shade party. The branches lopped off should be cut up into short lengths, and piled between the coffee trees. ”

“ There are many minor details connected with the care of the coffee tree which would occupy too much space to describe here, and which the coffee planter can easily learn as he carries on the work of coffee planting. Without doubt coffee planting in this country is destined to become a great industry. We have large tracts 32 of the finest coffee lands in the world, only waiting to be cultivated to make prosperous and happy homes. ”

“ Though said to be injurious in poor and shallow soil, coffee thrives under it in good land, but it has a tendency everywhere to run to stem, and therefore affords poor shade. An occasional tree branches out, and affords fair, and in some cases, even good shade, but, as a rule, this is not a desirable tree. ”

“ In 1740 Spanish missionaries introduced coffee cultivation into the Philippines from Java. In 1748 Don José Antonio Gelabert introduced coffee into Cuba, bringing the seed from Santo Domingo. In 1750 the Dutch extended the cultivation of the plant to the Celebes. Coffee was introduced into Guatemala about 1750–60. The intensive cultivation in Brazil dates from the efforts begun in the Portuguese colonies in Pará and Amazonas in 1752. Porto Rico began the cultivation of coffee about 1755. In 1760 João Alberto Castello Branco brought to Rio de Janeiro a coffee tree from Goa, Portuguese India. ”

“ The wood of the coffee tree is used also for cabinet work, as it is much stronger than many of the native woods, weighing about forty-three pounds to the cubic foot, having a crushing strength of 5,800 pounds per square inch, and a breaking strength of 10,900 pounds per square inch. ”

“ The generic name comes from two Greek words meaning naked branch, and has reference to the stout branches without spray; and the specific name comes from two Greek words meaning of two households, and refers to the male and female flowers which are found on separate trees. The Kentucky coffee tree is found growing wild from New York southward and westward, and it is occasionally cultivated in gardens and parks. ”

“ Coffee thrives well under this tree, but it has a great profusion of very hard fruits or seeds about the size of a small plum, and these, when falling from a high tree, injure the coffee berries, as may be readily supposed; the tree, too, is not a wide spreader. ”

“ Road Through a Coffee Estate in East Java
In some parts of the island, especially in the highlands, the climate and soil are ideal for coffee culture. The robusta tree grows satisfactorily even at altitudes of less than 1,000 feet in some regions; but its bearing life is only about ten years, as compared with the thirty years of the arabica at altitudes of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. The low-ground trees generally produce earlier and more abundantly. On some of the highland plantations, pruning is not practised to any great extent, and the trees often reach thirty or forty feet in height. ”

“ Strong, chilly winds and intensely hot sunlight are foes of coffee trees, especially of the arabica variety. Accordingly, in most countries it is customary to protect the plantation with wind-breaks consisting of rugged trees, and to shade the coffee by growing trees of other kinds between the rows. ”

“ Between the third and eighth years of growth every alternate shading-tree and coffee-plant is removed, as more space for development becomes necessary. The coffee-plants are pruned from time to time, and on no account should the branches be allowed to hang over and meet. ”

“ Fruit trees, such as bananas, oranges, mandioca, guavas, and so on, are planted among the coffee-trees to afford them a partial shelter, which, to a certain degree, is requisite to their best success, especially when they are young and throwing out thin roots. The coffee bushes are kept trimmed down to about the height of one's head, which facilitates the harvesting of the crop, and also throws the sap into the formation and growth of berries. ”