owned, and that was the reason that some of the fields were planted so closely together. It has been proven, however, by experience, that close planting does not pay. One of the most successful planters told me that even the wagon roads, which are left at intervals of perhaps five hundred feet, were not a loss, for the trees on each side produced so much more abundantly that they made up for the row or two of trees left out for the road. The coffee tree is an evergreen, and usually has a single trunk with many branches. The leaves are long, smooth and dark green in appearance. They are almost a shiny green like the holly, and look as though they had been varnished. The blossoms grow in great abundance in the axils of the branches, and a field in blossom is most entrancing. In the early morning, after a refreshing shower, or while the dew still lingers, the fields with their small, white blossoms are not only a beautiful sight to the eye, but an aroma arises from them that fills the air with a sweet perfume. The fruit usually grows in clusters of from a half dozen to a dozen berries, which surround the joints almost like a necklace just over the leaves. When ripe, the coffee berries resemble very much a cranberry of medium size. Then the coffee field is again a pretty picture, for the white flowers have turned into beautiful red berries, and the bushes resemble richly loaded cherry trees. The tree will produce abundant crops after the sixth year, and I saw fields that were at least thirty-five years old, and still bearing profitable crops. It is said that the coffee trees will produce as long as the life of man. There are two kinds of trees cultivated in Brazil: the common and the yellow-berried, or Botucatu, and generally called the Bourbon. The yellow-berried variety develops more rapidly, and gives more abundant crops, but its cultivation is more difficult. This latter is the one most generally cultivated at the present time, but it brings a lower price because it is said to be inferior to the other in aromatic qualities and the weight of the grain. Its introduction came about when the price was very high and every planter was anxious to obtain as great a production as possible. The coffee trees begin to blossom in September and continue to bloom for several weeks. The maturing process is also irregular, and covers a period of a couple of months. It requires a number of months for the berries to mature, and in the state of São Paulo, for instance, the first picking does not take place until the last of May or first of June. From that time on the plantations are scenes of activity for five or six months, until the last of the crop is dispatched to the commission houses in Santos. The fields will then be filled with men, women and children with their baskets, gathering up the precious fruit, ready to be taken to the drying yards.