Each bean is covered by a strong shell, or hull, which has to be removed. The soaking has loosened this, and so it comes off easier than it otherwise would. Juan and Lupe often watch the wheels of the huller as they turn, moved by patient oxen. There are two wheels set upright over a circular box, into which the coffee is put. As it passes between the wheels and the bottom of the box, the hulls are removed. Underneath the hull is a thin skin, which is also taken off. In some countries people want the coffee dyed or colored. A bluish color is given to it by coating the wheels of the hulling machine with lead. The hulls are separated from the beans in a winnowing machine, and the coffee is then sorted. Often this is done by hand. The beans are spread out on a table, and girls and boys, and sometimes grown persons, sort it into several grades. [Illustration: FIG. 37.--Sorting and sacking Coffee.] Juan's father has this work done by machinery. The coffee is put into a cylinder, in the bottom of which there are holes of different sizes by which it is graded. The last process is to sack the coffee and send it by railroad to Rio Janeiro. Of course it is neither roasted nor ground until it reaches its destination. We do not produce coffee in our country, but we are the greatest coffee drinkers in the world. A large part of our supply comes from Brazil. Trace the course of the ship from Rio Janeiro to New York. Juan has often done this, and his father has promised to take him with him sometime, when he goes with a cargo of coffee. You naturally think that coffee of different names must come from different countries, or at least from different trees. This is not always the case. Several brands may come from the same tree. The name depends partly upon the size and the general appearance of the beans. Coffee is a native of the far East, but it has gradually been transplanted to other countries, until it is now very extensively used. Brazil, Central America, Mexico, the West Indies, the Hawaiian Islands, Java, Ceylon, and Arabia are coffee-raising countries. In 1551 coffee found its way to the city of Constantinople; in 1652 it had reached London; and in 1720 it was planted in the West Indies. You see it worked its way westward rather slowly. Several hundred years ago, coffee was very expensive, so that only the rich could afford to use it. Instead of drinking it at home, people went to "coffeehouses," where it was served. To these "coffeehouses" men brought whatever news they had heard and told it to one another. In this way these places served about the same purpose that newspapers do now. THE TEA GARDENS OF CHINA At the bottom of the teapot you will find some leaves. Spread one of them out carefully. You can see that it was once long and slender, a little like willow leaves. It may have grown in some garden in far-away China, for we get a great deal of tea from that country.