You probably expect to see a green berry or bean at this time but they are still covered with a parchment-like skin. When they are finally dried this parchment skin is removed by passing the beans through heavy rollers, and the chaff is cleared away by machine work similar to that used for similar processes in wheat threshing and cleaning. By a continuous process the beans are passed through machines which husk, fan, polish and sort them according to sizes. The berries are now a light olive-green colour. The little round beans are classed as “Mocha” and another size as “Java,” etc. The various grades are then sacked in coarse sacks, labelled with the name of the _fazenda_ and the grade, and shipped to Rio de Janeiro, or Santos, where the great commission houses are located. The commission houses are important institutions and practically own many of the _fazendas_ through advance loans, and the planter is helpless against charges that are oftentimes excessive. In the warehouses the coffee is all emptied out in great piles, and repacked in new sacks, often being regraded by the commissionaires. The planter is burdened with a great number of expenses. The net price to him the past year was only a little over four cents per pound. Among these expenses the following is a fair list as taken from an official publication, and verified to me by a leading planter: transportation to the railroad station, transportation to Santos, municipal export tax, resacking charges, shipping old sacks back, brokers’ commission (should be three per cent., but is in fact much higher), a special tax of $1.00 per sack and an _ad valorem_ export tax of nine per cent., and a number of other minor charges. In the end it is the commission man who has the smallest amount of work and least risk, who makes the big money at the present price of coffee. It used to be when the planter received ten to twelve cents per pound for his coffee that the _fazendero_ rolled in wealth, and no extravagance or luxury was beyond him. At the present time only those who have the latest improved machinery, so that the cost of preparation is reduced to a minimum, are making much money. A rise or fall of a cent per pound often means prosperity to the coffee producer or the reverse. The price to-day is not more than one-third of what it was a number of years ago. It is probably quite possible to simplify the cultivation of coffee trees so that there would be a considerable margin of profit at the present prices. One progressive planter looks after forty thousand trees with one man, four mules and two machines of a recent pattern, according to a report that I saw.