The Colombia coffee crop is gathered twice a year, the principal one in March and April and the smaller one in November and December, although some picking is done throughout the year. For this labor native Indian and negro women are preferred, as they are more rapid, skilful, and careful in handling the trees. Contrary to the method in Brazil, where the tree at one handling is stripped of its entire bearings, ripe and unripe fruit, here only the fully ripened fruit is picked. That necessitates going over the ground several times, as the berries progressively ripen. More time is consumed in this laborious operation, but it is believed that thereby a better crop of more uniform grade is obtained and in the aggregate with less waste of time and effort. Colombian planters classify their coffees as _cafe trillado_ (natural or sun-dried), _cafe lavado_ (washed), _cafe en pergamino_ (washed and dried in the parchment). They grade them as _excelso_ (excellent), _fantasia_ (_excelso_ and _extra_), _extra_ (extra), _primera_, (first), _segundo_ (second), _caracol_ (peaberry), _monstruo_ (large and deformed), _consumo_ (defective), and _casilla_ (siftings). [Illustration: PREPARING COLOMBIAN COFFEE FOR THE MARKET] VENEZUELA. Venezuela employs both the dry and the wet methods of preparation, producing both "washed" and "commons" and also, like Colombia, has a large part of the coffee cleaned in the trading centers of the various coffee districts. Dry, or unwashed, coffees are known as _trillado_ (milled), and compose the bulk of the country's output. Venezuela's plantation-working forces are largely natives of Indian descent and negroes, some of them coming during harvesting season from adjoining Colombia and returning there after the picking is done. The resident workers labor under a sort of peonage system which is tacitly recognized by both employee and employer, although no laws of peonage or slavery have ever existed in Venezuela. Under this system, the laborers live in little colonies scattered over the _haciendas_, as the coffee plantations are called in Venezuela. Company stores keep them supplied with all their wants. Modern plantation machinery is very scarce; the ancient method of hulling coffee in a circular trough where the dried berries are crushed by heavy wooden wheels drawn by oxen, is still a common sight in Venezuela. In preparing washed coffees, some planters ferment the pulped coffee under water (wet fermentation process); while others ferment without water (dry fermentation). [Illustration: THIS OLD-FASHIONED HULLING MACHINE IS OPERATED BY OX POWER IN VENEZUELA]