August (5 ( , 1800. OMAHA ILU'HTRATISI ) 11
.Uncle Sam's Porto
Ricaii Coffee Fields
, ( Copyrighted , 1509 , by Frank G. Carpenter. )
PONCE , July 20. ( Special Correspondence
of The Bee. ) How would you like to own n
l\ > rte Ulcan plantation ? There Is > blg money
In some of them , I can tell you. 1 have met
several men who are making from 25 to CO
per cent a year out of them. One colTce
* . planter near lAdjuntns cleaned up $100,000
In 189S and there are sugar men who are
doing equally ns well. Some of the sugar
estates about iPonce produce from 6,000 to
8,000 hogsheads a season , and on the cast
coast , not far from iHumacno , there Is ft
little cocoanut grove which will not Its
" owner nn annual Income of $20,000. I heard
the other day of a Boston man who has In
vested $50,000 in Porto Hlcan cattle , and
some New 'England ' bankers , who are lend
ing money at high rates here In Ponce , have
lately bousht a 'plantation ' of 1,000 acres of
* susar lands a few miles u the coast from
were I am now writing. There nro Florida
men hero who are enthusiastic over the
chances for fortunes In oranges , pineapples
and vecetables for our city markets , and 1
hear every day of some American who has
a new proposition with "millions In It. " As
to the Industrial outlook and the possibilities
of the sugar and fruit lands , I will deal In
another letter.
There Is no doubt but that there Is money
In coffee. Porto Rico already raises enough
to give half a pound to every man , wemnn
and child among Its fellow citizens of the
United States. It produces annually more
than CO.000,000 pounds and It could pro
duce nt least as much more. So far not
one-tenth of the coffee lands have been de
veloped and these In cultivation are not half
cared for.
This Is so , although coffee is king In Porto
Illco. It Is 'the ' chief Industry of the Island
and Its sale profits the country more than
anything else. The coffee exports are thrco
times as large as the sugar exports. They
amount to something like $0,000,000 a year
and go almost altogether to continental
Europe.
TinHt III tin ? World.
I doubt whether there Is a better coffee
In the world than that raised In these now
coffee fields of Uncle Sam's. If there Is I
have not tasted it. Porto Rlcan coffee has
the same flavor as the tiost Mocha and Java
mixed. As prepared by the Porto Rlcauu
It Is a drink for the gods strong , aromatic
matic and delicious.
The best of the coffee is called cafe cara-
colllla ; It has brought right along 25 cents
and more at wholesale. It all goes to
France , for It Is too rich for our American
blood , costing' so much that our Importers
have not Introduced it Into the American
markets. They can get Brazilian coffee
cheaper and the profit upon It Is greater.
The result Is that the Porto Rlcan coffee
ha ? bpen going to Germany , France , Italy ,
Austria and Spain. France gets the best ;
Germany , Austria and Italy take the second -
end and third grades and the poorest of
all Is sold to the Spaniards.
This should and will bo changed. There
are people In the United States who arc
now paying 40 cents a pound for so-call3l
Mocha and Java coffee which costs in San
tos and Rio do Janeiro less than 8 cents a
pound. They could 'buy ' the Porto Rlcan
coffee at a less rate and have a better
article.
The Porto Rlcan coffee iplantere are Jut
beginning to awaken to the possibilities of
our market. They have recently formed an
association or trust to advance their
wares In the United States. They will op n
'business ' houses In the cities here and In
New York and will try to show our people
the varieties of coffee raised cm Uncle Sam's
new island. The men already Included In
this trust have plantations to the value of
$2,000,000. Some of their estates are mort
gaged , 'but ' the association expects to clear
off the mortgages by money raised In the
United States and also to get such ad
vances as will enable Its members to culti
vate after modern methods. Among other
things they want our Agricultural depart
ment to establish an experimental station
hero devoted to coffee raising. There Is no
doubt we should have such farms in all
cur tropical possessions and I understand
that Secretary Wilson Is already planning
them ,
Whurr tinCollVf I.iiiulH Arts
III Brazil .the . best coffee is raised at an
elevation of from 1,500 to 3,000 feet above
the sea. It grows on the highlands south
of the center of the country and some dls-
tanco back from the ocean. The coffee plan
tations of Porto Rico begin almost as soon
as you leave the narrow strip of coa ial
plains 'which runs about the Island. They
grow all along the hills , clear to the tops
of the mountains. In some districts you
ride for miles through nothing but coffee ,
the bushes growing among other trees.
This is especially so In the eastern end of
the Island , where at blossoming time the air
Is so full of the perfumery of the coffee
Dowers that It almost overcomes you ,
There Is a great deal of coffee along the
military road and qulto a large amount In
the western portion of the Island. I have
been told that coffco will grow anywhere
outside the low coast lands , and that there
are largo areas of coffee lands which are
now In grass. There is no doubt that this
is true. Porto Rico has In the neighborhood
of 2,500,000 acres of land , and there are , It Is
said , only about 100,000 acres In coffee.
The most of the coffee lands are in com
paratively small tracts. It takes money to
operate , a coffee plantation and for this
reason the ordinary man cannot manage a
large crop. Tlio average estate Is not over
fifty acres , although there nro some which
are much larger. There is a man named
Shroeder , for Instance , who has 1,000 acres
and who Is putting out more every year.
He had not a largo capital , but ho bought
cheap land and put In his first trees In IS'Jl.
Ho has already had a profit of $1,000 this
year from his plantation and he has thou
sands of young trees coming on , and within
ten years his Income will bo $100,000 a year
There Is a Dutchman from Java who has
just gone Into the coffee business here
who will soon have a similarly large prop
erty , and there are other men who are
quietly buying up colTce lands.
I'rlccN nt I.niiilH.
And this brings mo to the subject of land
values. The conditions have been so unset
tled 'that ' it Is hard to say just what they
are. I have asked many questions and have
been answered that coffee lands are worth
all the way from $25 to $200 per acre. I
have heard of some coffee men who want
same time. The trees must be picked over
again nnd again during the season , and cof
fee picking forms one of the chief In
dustries of the Island. It Is In the picking
season that the peons make the most of
their money. They have work nt this tlmo
for from three to four months , nnd men ,
women nnd children are seen among the
bushes picking the berries Into baskets and
carrying them off to the factory on their
heads. The little ones pick the berries on
the lower stems , while the men and women
bend down the taller trees nnd gather tlio
ones higher up. The picking upon many of
the plantations is done by the pound , the
upunl price being about l',4 cunts per pound.
It takes a good picker to average ( iO pounds
n day , but as the whole family can work
at It the peon does fairly well In the coffee
regions at picking time.
In ( In * ColtVt * KnotorlrMt
I find the Porto Rlcan coffee factories quite
different from those of Brazil. The most
of them are rude In the extreme. They have
nrt the line machinery nor the economical
methods of the Brazilians.
In Brazil the berries are llrsl mashed i
a pulp , which takes off their llesh. The
seeds or beans are taken out and dried In
the win and within a short time are on
their way to the market. There the
machinery Is run by steam. Here oxen and
. .MR. CARPENTER AT WORK HULLING COFFEE.
$300 per acre , but this Is for rich planta
tions in bearing.
Scmo of the cheaper lands arc back from
the roads and so situated that it Is costly
to get the coffee to market. The value of
such lands will bo greatly Increased by the
new roads which the government \ con
templating.
'Many ' of the large plantations , bath sugar
and coffee , are owned by non-residents.
Some are the property of Barcelona JOWB
and other rich Spaniards. They have been
paying well and It Is doubtful whether they
can be bought cheap. I am told that the
Spaniards consider their land of more value
since the Americans have taken possession.
Among tliese is a Spanish officer who com
manded In the recent war. He was asked
the other day If he was going to sell out his
Porto Rlcan property and go back to Spain
Ho replied :
"No , I prefer to stay here and give up
my pension. The change of government
will Increase the value of my property ,
and I can't afford to let it go. "
On the other hand , there are many coffee
properties which are heavily mortgaged.
Interest rates hero run from 10 per cent
upward and 1 nnd 2 per cent a month arc
common. The war has materially retarded
all kinds of business and at present some
of Uie planters are so cramped that they
want to sell. There Is a good chance to
buy the mortgage notes nnd the man who
brings his money here and loans It to
these Porto Rlcan coffee men will get
high rates of Interest and In time have a
chance nt the land Itself.
No one should come to raise coffee with
out ho has enough to buy his land and to
keep himself and his workmen for the first
four years. He should have as much as
$10,000 to establish almost any kind of n
plantation and aibovo that the more the
better. Ho could not take a hundred acres
of land and bring It into coffee bearing
within five years for much less than $2i- !
000 , At the end of that tlmo his profits
would come In rapidly and IIP would prol-
ably bo able to make from 15 to 25 per cent
on his Investment for many years.
How ColTec IH ( Irown In I'orlo Ith-it
So far I have seen no well cultivated
coffee plantations in Porto Rico , In Brazil
the coffee estates are like gardens. The
trees are trimmed , They grow in great
bushes in regular rows , which are plowed
nnd hoed and kept free from weeds. The
plants are first grown in nurseries and
carefully set out. Hero the most of the
plants are from the seeds which fall to
the ground. They are set out without
order , being shaded for the first year by
Jmnana plants and after that by larger
trees. The result Is they grow tall and
spindling , with trunks like pipe stems.
The coffee trees begin to flower in April.
Soon green berries ( ako the place of the
blcssoms and by October there is a wealth
of rich , red coffee cherries shining out of
the green feaves. Tlio coffee berry is rf
Just the size of a clierry , It grows tloso to
the branch ra'her than on a tnm , like a
cherry. In each cherry are two of the half-
round coffee beans of commerce. They arc
the seeds of the cherry.
The coffee berries do not all ripen at the
men take the place of ina.hincry and the
methodof preparation for the market are
slow and expensive.
The berries are first stored away in the
great plantation house or factory of the
planter. The buildings are rude In the ex
treme. They are usually high up on piles
and so arranged that flat hexes , some of
which are as large as a city lot , can bo
rolled at will In and out from under the
floor. These great trays are used for dryIng -
Ing the coffee beans after the llesh has been
taken off of them. It Is necessary that the
coffee should not be rained upon while dryIng -
Ing and the shoving It under the building
protects it from the heavy dews of the night.
In some places the coffee Is dried on ce
ment floors , ljut It requires from two weeks
to a month to properly cure It nnd such floors
have to be covered up at tlmo of rain and the
e ffeo Is often taken In at night.
The getting the seeds out of the berry Is
Interesting. This Is done by a wheel or
roller which moves over the berries and sn
Milked by a Snake
I'or some time past John Dlxon of Homer
City had suspected that some one was In
the hnbil of milking his cow nt li regular
Intervals during ithe day , says the Imllann
( I'a. ) Messenger. The cow was pastured In
n lot aillacent to the borough. In full view
of several residents , ami though a careful
wateh was kept no one wan detected in the
act. hnt the fart remained that the dally
dole of milk wsis growing less , .ililuniKli
the morning's supply \\as full an I up to
the average. The ni.vt.teryMIH Kohnl , how-
over. last Krldav. Dick Reed and his wife
\\ore taking a walk through the pasture
It it when Mr. Keed saw celled beside the
patch an Immense black snake. He threw
n stone at the reiilllo and cut a hole In
Its hodv.
The snake slowly uncoiled and Pu-U was
astonished to see pouring through the
wound In Its body a thick stream .if milk.
Two or three nuarls thus ran nw.iv Mrs.
Heed was a curious observer of 11' . occur
rence and also wanted to know the size
ef the snake. I'loeurlng two sinks she
placed them under Its body and nn-ed the
snake from the ground until It w.is on a
level with her shoulders. She Is .1 pretty
lull woman , but notwithstanding Hits Dick
says the head and 'tall ' of the rein Hecic
both touching the ground , lie hml only
time to observe this , fcr almost en Hie In
stant the snake leaped from the sticks
anil broke awav like a blue streak It hnd
only been wounded , and when Yelieved ef
tlio burden of the milk was reaih for a
race.
Dick and his wife gave Instant pursuit
but they were not In It with the swift-glid
ing serpent , which , Dick snld. was making a
mile a minute at the start and atc.ullty in
creasing Its pace. The snake was not lcs > -
than ten or twelve feet long , "and , " salil
Dick , "was the prettiest , glossy black nnakc
I over saw. " Other search parties went after
the snake , hut it made good Its escape.
Hut Mr. Dl.xoii has solved the mvslery of
how his cow fell off in her evening's milk.
Fruit Punches for
Mid-Summer
As this is pre-eminently the seanon for
ripe and delicious fruit , tlio greater variety
of ways that one can command In their ex
quisite serving the "better. " The old-
fashioned method of making fruit Ices for
dessert Is rather giving place to the newer
preparation of fruit punches , as much more
wholesome and digestible made up , as
they are , of a larger proportion of fruit
juices and n smaller quantity of sugar
These fruit punches also admit of a deli
cate garnish which gives them a kind of
piquant Interest and charm , the choice ol
special and appropriate garnishing ap
pealing directly to the Individual taste and
imagination of the housekeeper. In the
more formal dinner these punches servo
admirably to clear the palate before the
game , but for the ordinary home dinner
they make a delightfully refreshing hot
weather dcesert.
ClU'lT.V I'lllK'll.
One of the most delicious of the fruit
punches is mode from cherries , after the
following manner : Take one and one-half
pin's of cherry juice , one-half a pint of
water , three-fourths rf a pound of sugar ,
OOKKKH IS imiKIJ IN OHUAT FLAT HOXBS
adjusted < thU ; it will mash Hut hurries but not
crush the seeds. As soon as the seeds have
been freed from the pulp they are dried.
They are still covered with two thin sheila
which must bo removed before they nro
ready for shipment , This Is done In hull
ing mills mid the beans are then polished by
running over and through them great wheels
faced with tin. The wheels are so adjusted
that they do not injure the coffee beans , but
by rubbing them over and over burnish
them KO that they shine as If varnished. In
tioino mills coloring matter is added to give
the coffco a blue tint.
Much of tlio bulling of the coffee Is dene
in great mortars made of wood , men standIng -
Ing before them and letting great pestles
drop on Iho coffee , thus breaking the shells ,
These wooden mortars are of about the
( Continued on Klglith 1'age. )
together with the juice of n lumen , an ounce
of candled cherries , and the while of nn egg
The cherries should bo well jammed to
gether , and some of the plls broken In order
to get a little of the bitter flavor of the
nut. The nugar should then be added and
the 'whole brought to a boiling point. Strain
and add the water. I'ut the whole Into an
Ice cream free/.er , and after It Is frozen stir
In the beaten white of an egg and the can
dled cherries ,
H 'il ItiiNiilicTi'y 1'iineli.
TlilH IH alto very delicious , made In ex
actly the same manner , with the same pro
portions of fruit juice , water and sugar ,
The Juice of two lemons should , however ,
bo added , and for a garnish slir In blanched
almonds -with the ! > calcii while of nn egg
It fchould bo served In champagne gasHc ]
and when used ua u dessert it Is very nice
to h.ne small triangles of angel * ' food , col
red to the same- shade as the pun-li , com
ing up from oppcslte sides of the glass. It
Is a very simple matter In color the angela'
food with a little vegetable coforliig , prccur-
iihle at nny grocery.
Oraiiu > I'liucli.
The fruit Is , of course , not cooked. Take
one and one-half pints of clear Juice , add
to It one-half pint of water , and dissolve
In It three-fourths of a pound of finely pow
dered sugar. After freezing add In the
usual manner the beaten white of an egg ,
sliced iMimnns may be suggested as a
garnish. Lemon punch Is made In exactly
the same way , except that It requires a full
pound of sugar. Small bltn of angelica
make a very nice garnish for lenmn punch
In combination with the beaten white of
an egg.
llliicKliorr.t I'liitcli.
This Is especially delectable and refreshing
The fruit , however , should be thoroughly
ooked In order to bring out the brilliant
color. When pioperly made It Is exceed
ingly rich and beautiful In color , but Is apt
to be a little dull If taken olT the stove too
quickly. The Juice , of one lemon should
be addeil In order to give It the requisite
tang. White currants as a garnish give a
very pretty effect In contrast to deep red.
Never omit the beaten while of an egg.
( Ireen gage plums treated In the. same
manner , with garnish of blanched almonds
mends , IH beyond praise. 1'lncappfo Is very
much Improved by adding the Jul-e of one
orange and one lemcn. Cherries glace may
be suggested as a pretty contrast to the
pineapple.
Cnri-itii < I'liiu-li.
Currants seem to have been made ex
pressly for wine and punches. The largo
c.ip red raspberries , although offering no
contrast , are always a pleasing combination
with currants. Tim addition of the egg and
angels' food give subylance to It as a des
sert.
In fact , from these suggestions the In
genious housewife may Invent any number
f delightful comblnatlins Unit are both
economical and refreshing. De/awnre grapes ,
for Instance , Havered with blanched almonds ,
will be in st acceptable a little Ait or In the
season.
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: prli'i- . : t.r oyou pay The freight or
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the fre'irlit folds com
pactly Guaranteed as rep
resented or money re-
-.J _ _ _ ; _ , - funded
< \SmW5y I'mpord & Mnrcimon To. Mfqs. )
) XSgBg 419 S. Cninl t , fhirnno 0
If ) 11 llUVH IlllVUJrl
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hy uti
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Iri < M < rviH anil whiten * HID ti'i'lli , lrmiullionii HIM
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I.iiillenurOimtlu-
TOTIILII KHAIA < JINTH :
UHTU TO TitAvi'i ,
PER YEAR and appoint local
WITH ALL EXPENSES. ggJJlft , { ? Jok , ° .
Hnnditamp for application lilnnk wltli full nartlcn.
l r . Ur l AimUlVinUJ lu liaiulln "I.lfu o ( Dewvjr"
nnd I'lilllpplnu War Hook , lllif I'ur.
Thu Ulblu llou.c , f , I (4111,11,1i III ! . . ,
Hlthi > tiitr rarerleiin < liudi tcutiriceii-- |
* tl formula * frfetolirwcutorn ( ri 8rnd elylit
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