Successful cultivation of coffee, like that of almost any other valuable crop, requires certain conditions of soil and climate. These are a rich earth, a certain rarefication of air and plenty of moisture. The _terra roxa_ (red earth) of Brazil is very rich, and is the result of the decomposition of rocks of basaltic origin. The best lands are at an altitude of one thousand five hundred feet, or more, above sea level and require eighty inches or more of annual rainfall. Furthermore, hilly lands with an eastern exposure are generally chosen. Although plantations are sometimes found on comparatively level ground. Too much or too little moisture, or a frost, will spoil a season’s crop. A coffee field, with its trees laid out in regular rows stretching as far as the eye can see to the top of the hills in either direction, is a beautiful sight. In the foreground the rows of trees, with the roads at regular intervals and the contrast of green against the red soil, are plainly visible; but, as distance increases, they blend together until the whole seems a field of living green, gently swaying in the breeze. Like a great panorama these fields spread out in every direction in the neighbourhood of Riberão Preto, the centre of the richest coffee district. Coffee trees are a matter of slow growth, requiring at least four years to mature after the young plants are set out. The seed is always planted in the woods, where patches are cleared for that purpose, and where the necessary shade and moisture are found. They are always transplanted during the rainy season, when about eighteen months old and perhaps a foot high, and during this work the tender plants are handled very carefully. In many countries the young trees are shaded by banana stalks, but that method is not followed in Brazil. Corn is oftentimes planted between the rows of coffee trees to bring an extra crop, but this method is not approved by the best planters, as coffee trees exhaust the soil rapidly enough by themselves. On some of the old _fazendas_ the plants are set in rows not more than eight or ten feet apart, but the newer plantations are at a distance of from twelve to fifteen feet. The trees are carefully pruned, and the ground weeded each year, and a crop will be produced about the fifth year after planting. If the trees are left to grow untrimmed they will reach a height of eighteen or twenty feet, but they are usually kept down to a height of about twelve feet, or less, and are not allowed to spread out too much. One quickly learns to distinguish between a well-kept and a poorly-cultivated coffee plantation by its trimmed or untrimmed appearance. The growth of weeds is sometimes allowed, especially on hillsides, as the roots of the weeds prevent the soil from washing during the tropical downpours. Otherwise the rich surface dirt will disappear down into the valleys below. A planter’s credit was at one time determined by the number of trees he