HOME OF THE COFFEE KING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10604, 5 November 1910, Page 3 (Supplement)

HOME OF THE COFFEE KING.

The home of the coffee king is back among the rich coffee lands of Brazil, where, according to a writer in "The Book-keeper" "the blood red earth colors everything it touches with a reddish hue. "His nlant'ation, the Monte Afegre, is 300 miles due west of Rio de Janeiro, but one must travel twice that distance on a roundabout journey to reach it. I rode with the coffee king for hours' and hours through a continuous succession of coffee trees, with no end in sight. "When one considers that there are from two hundred and fifty to three hundred trees to each acre he will readily believe that on the thirty-two plantations owned by this one man ,here are more than 8,000,000 trees. "His name, Francisco Schmidt, inlicates his German origin. A halficiitury ago his parents came to Br.i----;il as poor emigrants and settled in the ■offee regions of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil.' The youthful Francisco, who vas then onlv 10 years of age, began rork by hoeing the coffee trees, which vas about the only work he could do. Ie is now the owner of lands upon, diich ho hoed coffee when a. boy. "A coffee field is a beautiful sight: vhen the trees are in bloom in Octo-t ier, but this beauty is evanescent. The. >etals soon drop off, and then the green jerries begin to appear in thick clus«rs, which require months to mature. U- last their color changes to a cherry; ed. and thev are ready for the pickers. Phis is the busy season and the coffee, jlantations are scenes of great activity; '■ thousands of pickers flock to the coffee iclds. .The 'cherries,' when picked, are lacked, and run through pulping machines, after which they are spread vpon great paved yards for drying, iere they are turned and turned for lays and"weeks; no artificial system of trying equals' that of the. sun, which ;eems to give the 'beans' the desired, lavor. they are now run through, leaning machines, sorted,' and. sacked, uid are sent by train to the shipping -The production of the Schmidt fnzcri-. las for last year amounted to 250,000. :acks of 133',pounds each, a total of nore than 33,000.000 pounds of "green ioffee. This would furnish a cup of' loffee to every man, woman,-and cliild il the United' States and Canada, for ine. week. : It requires more than' 130 acres of trying yards, either made x of .brick pavnsr or of beaten earth, to dry this great nSduetion ef coffee and fourteen mills ■mi bv steam or water power to do the iv>prk" of ■ tlie othdr steam- processes. There are 66,000' acres in the entire .at", although all of it is not", under ioffee cultivation. There: are twenty ,wo railroad stations, besides a number if other sidings! Twelve, hundred' fannies, numbering over 8000 people, live in the plantations'and.make their liv--hg by cultivating the coffee trees. One •amily will "care'for 500 trees, but each neriiber bf "the family assists in-;'the vork as soon as capable physically-.. ....'.-;■■ "Tlieri; there are blacksmith, wagonnakers,,; harness-makers, 7 , aiid: men '.of hahy other "trades 'who spend all .'pi lieir time on the plantation.:" Each- one ias his or he r work to dp,;and,it:is;all iystehiatised,sjustr as'in the great' indii'sr irial- establishments ■"■■ in: the I ::"United States; .'. &AR~''the wagons;.:and lamess heeded" arc:made, ;ation; and: even- a pMvate tailor ripyed; to inalte r tho \ clothes of the: jrietof; arid;His ; spns:- .■.-■;-;yy"■'■'••- : ■.:■:■■.■. •••Mbre; ■■■■ than ;eighty- miles, of.;; rtejeShonei ■wire's liave'-b'e«v;stHing ;tp-:%iye. : the'-'tenants- withy nfeiessities for;; eating; drinking, bryweaiv i-Jniany ways yast.estabhshment •erniiids 1 one of the feudal estates of M.'^i:; : •;■:■>---:-<:- : :" '■';

Tarsus, the ancient city of Asia Mjnor where the Apostle Paul was born, is now illuminated by electricity. The :power is taken from the river. There are now in Tarsus 450 electric street lights and about 600 incandescent lights for private use. The greatest whirlpool is the maelstrom off the coast of Xoiua\. It is an eSdy between the mainland and an island, and when the current is in one direction and wind in another, no ship can withstand the fury of the waves: Whales and sharks hare been cast ashore and killed. "The current is estimated to run 30 miles an hour.