It is a well-established fact that the quality of coffee-that is, its flavor and aroma-is improved by keeping, and it is thought to be at its best at eight years, provided it has been kept in a perfectly dry place and atmosphere. As it is sold by weight, and as it loses by the evaporation of the water contained in the freshly prepared beans, dealers prefer to sell it as green as possible. When at its best, its color should be a pale yellow, for the usual variety; and greenness of color is an evidence of immaturity or of artificial coloring. Such coffee should be avoided.

The following table will show the great variation in the size and weight of coffee from different sources:

Its loss of weight by drying is shown by the following-the

Since 1885 the production has increased enormously. Brazil alone produced for exportation in 1891-92, 7,000,000 bags of 132 pounds each, showing that its exports for this year exceeded the total production in 1888-89 by over 100,000,000 pounds. The exports of coffee from Mexico for 1888-89 were to the amount of $3,886,034, and $1,019,066 for the first six months of 1890-91. Costa Rica produced, in 1889-90, 33,363,200 pounds; Venezuela, 95,170,272; Colombia exported in the latter year to the value of $4,262,030, and Guatemala 50,859,900 pounds, valued at $2,714,981. Nicaragua produced in 1890-91 11,300,000 pounds.

While the total production of the world has thus been increasing, the ratio of this increase has been far greater in the countries that make up Latin America than in the coffee producing districts of the Old World, where the once famed plantations of Arabia have dwindled to an insignificant production, and the difficulties of cultivation. in Java have increased. It is in the former, therefore, that the steadily growing demands shown by the constantly increasing price must stimulate the opening of new fields.

RANGE OF PRODUCTION.

The plant is a native of the tropics and can be cultivated only in regions free from frost, though excessive heat is inimical to a healthy growth or good product. Thus, in the low, hot lands of the entire coast of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and South Atlantic, its cultivation is not attempted; and it is only back on the high lands and hill ranges that successful plantations are found.

Mexico is the most northern and Paraguay the most southern of the countries of this Continent, where its cultivation has been profitably pursued, and the area of territory in each of the countries where it is grown that can be successfully devoted to the production of coffee is much less than is generally supposed.

The following information as to this industry has been gained from those having personal knowledge of coffee culture in the different localities:

MEXICO.

In regard to coffee raising in Mexico, Maj. J. D. Warner, of the the City of Mexico, says, in the Mexican Trader, under recent date:

Coffee raising in Mexico is yet in its infancy, but it pays from 100 to 200 per cent on the capital invested, the Mexican coffee being of a superior quality and ranking among the best in the world. Coffee is worth at present, at the plantation, from 20 to 25 cents per pound, while the annual cost of production averages only 7 cents per pound, the coffee being sold for cash only, and never commissioned out to find a market. Good coffee land with an exceptional title can be bought for from $5 to $100 an acre, according to location and condition, and an acre will grow 1000 trees.

He states that the coffee plantations of Mexico are never attacked by any disease or parasite; but in a document published by the Department of Industry and Commerce of that country, in 1883, among other insects injurious to the coffee plant, one, the gallina ciega, is mentioned as attacking the roots and doing much damage to the plant.

The altitude recommended for the establishment of plantations is from 1000 to 3000 feet above the level of the sea, and such localities are the healthiest to be found in the tropics, being above the level where yellow fever and malarious diseases usually prevail.

The gathering of the crop is largely done by women and children, and labor is not difficult to obtain. Major Warner states that the average of wages paid in the coffee raising districts is 4334 cents per day.

Señor Romero, Minister of Mexic oin the United States, in a work on coffee culture published in 1875, estimates the cost of each coffee tree, four years from planting, at about 11 cents, including price of land and wages; that the tree in its fourth year will yield two pounds of coffee, which, at a minimum price of 10 cents, makes 20 cents per tree. The expense of gathering and preparation for market he puts at 5 cents, thus leaving a net profit of 15 cents per tree. With 1000 trees per acre, the net profit per acre is seen to be $150 for the fourth year. The yield increases, ordinarily, to the seventh or eighth year.

The following remarks and directions in relation to coffee planting in Mexico are taken in substance from the government publication referred to above, and may, with some unimportant modifications, be applied to the cultivation of coffee in all American countries that produce it:

CULTIVATION OF COFFEE.

The soil most generally suited for coffee plantations is a friable, sandy, or even gravelly one, though the presence of clay in considerable amount is not objectionable, when the drainage is good; but soils that retain standing water, or those formed chiefly of alluvium, while they produce vigorous trees, do not yield coffee of good quality. The best soils are sufficiently deep to allow the roots to penetrate vertically to a distance of three feet or more, and should not rest on a substratum of solid rock or impermeable clay, as the moisture would be too long retained, and the plants injured. For this reason it is always advisable, in selecting ground for a coffee plantation, to make sure that the above conditions, as nearly as possible, exist; otherwise disappointment and failure may result.

It must not be supposed, however, that moisture is not necessary for the healthy growth and production of plant and fruit; for unless there is abundant moisture afforded by nature, in the way of rains and dews, artificial irrigation will be needed. The essential thing is that the moisture pass freely through the soil and not be retained standing about the roots of the plant.

The best plantations are made on virgin soil, from which a forest growth has been removed by cutting the trees and burning the branches and undergrowth on the ground, as the ashes are an excellent fertilizer, whose properties are lasting. Hillsides are usually selected to secure better drainage, and eastern exposures are preferred, though not essential to the growth of productive plantations. Next to eastern, the western slopes are preferable, as on either of these the growing plants are not exposed all day to the direct rays of the sun, as is the case with northern and southern exposures.

Many planters are of the opinion that burning over the ground injures it, and no doubt this is the case if the whole forest growth be burned, as is sometimes done; but when only the branches of the

fallen trees and the undergrowth are consumed by the fire, the general opinion is that the ashes are valuable as a fertilizer for the coffee plants. In Brazil, the fallen trunks of such trees as make valuable timber are sawed by hand by gangs of men, who go about the country for that purpose, since saw-mills are scarce, and the transportation of the heavy hard-wood logs would be, almost impossible. Some of these woods are almost as hard as iron, and the sawing is difficult and very slow.

The plants for the future plantation are raised either on the spot where they are to grow, or in seed-beds, to be afterwards transplanted to their permanent place. The latter mode is that most generally preferred, as by it plants without defect may be selected, and of uniform size, which is not possible under the former system.

If the former method be chosen, however, the ground, cleaned of all growth, is staked off in lines, in which the seeds are planted, a few to each hill, at from six to eight feet apart. The rows are not so far apart as the hills, for these are arranged in the quincunx orderthat is, three hills form the vertices of an equilateral triangle, two of them being in one line and the third, or vertex of the triangle, being in the next line. The distance apart of the plants, then, being represented by a, the distance of the lines from each other will be the square root of 34a. This arrangement gives each plant the same root area as to every other one, and in situations when the plough can be used, allows cultivation in three directions. Of course the soil where the seeds are deposited must be thoroughly and deeply stirred. This is done by long, sharp spades, made especially for the purpose, and the holes are dug some two feet square and to about the same depth, in order that the roots may easily penetrate the soil in all directions. The earth removed from the hole is so replaced that what was at the top shall be at the bottom.

As the young plants need to be protected from the burning rays. of the sun, banana plants, which are of very rapid growth, are set at the centers of the triangular spaces; or, as the banana propagates so rapidly and is so difficult to extirpate, when the coffee plants require the whole ground, many prefer to plant the wild fig, or some other plant easier to eradicate. In Brazil it is usual to plant a kind of tall coarse pea, called guando, which shades the ground effectually, prevents the soil from washing away, and is allowed to fall and decay