The spread of the industry began about this time. The coffee tree was introduced into the state of Rio de Janeiro in 1770. From there its cultivation was gradually extended into the states of Sao Paulo, Minas Geraes, Bahia, and Espirito Santo, which have become the great coffee-producing sections of Brazil. The cultivation of the plant did not become especially noteworthy until the third decade of the nineteenth century. Large crops were gathered in the season of 1842-43; and by the middle of the century, the plantations were producing annually more than 2,000,000 bags. [Illustration: Photograph by Courtesy of J. Aron & Co. GENERAL VIEW OF FAZENDA DUMONT, RIBEIRAO PRETO, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL] Brazil's commercial coffee-growing region has an estimated area of approximately 1,158,000 square miles, and extends from the river Amazon to the southern border of the state of Sao Paulo, and from the Atlantic coast to the western boundary of the state of Matto Grosso. This area is larger than that section of the United States lying east of the Mississippi River, with Texas added. In every state of the republic, from Ceara in the north to Santa Catharina in the south, the coffee tree can be cultivated profitably; and is, in fact, more or less grown in every state, if only for domestic use. However, little attention is given to coffee-growing in the north, except in the state of Pernambuco, which has only about 1,500,000 trees, as compared, with the 764,000,000 trees of Sao Paulo in 1922. The chief coffee-growing plantations in Brazil are situated on plateaus seldom less than 1,800 feet above sea-level, and ranging up to 4,000 feet. The mean annual temperature is approximately 70 deg. F., ranging from a mean of 60.8 deg. in winter to a mean of 72 deg. in summer. The temperature has been known, however, to register 32 deg. in winter and 97.7 deg. in summer. While coffee trees will grow in almost any part of Brazil, experience indicates that the two most fertile soils, the _terra roxa_ and the _massape_, lie in the "coffee belts." The _terra roxa_ is a dark red earth, and is practically confined to Sao Paulo, and to it is due the predominant coffee productivity of that state. _Massape_ is a yellow, dark red--or even black--soil, and occurs more or less contiguous to the _terra roxa_. With a covering of loose sand, it makes excellent coffee land. Brazil planters follow the nursery-propagated method of planting, and cultivate, prune, and spray their trees liberally. Transplanting is done in the months from November to February. Coffee-growing profits have shown a decided falling off in Brazil in recent years. In 1900 it was not uncommon for a coffee estate to yield an annual profit of from 100 to 250 percent. Ten years later the average returns did not exceed twelve percent. [Illustration: FAZENDA GUATAPARA, SAO PAULO, BRAZIL, WITH 800,000 TREES IN BEARING]