rst small, then medium, and
finally large apertures or meshes. Damaged beans and foreign matter are
removed by hand picking. An average yield of cleaned coffee is from
1-1/2 to 2 lb per tree, but much greater crops are obtained on new rich
lands, and under special conditions.

_Production._--The centre of production has shifted greatly since
coffee first came into use in Europe. Arabia formerly supplied the
world; later the West Indies and then Java took the lead, to be
supplanted in turn by Brazil, which now produces about three-quarters
of the world's supply and controls the market.

_Brazil._--Coffee planting is the chief industry of Brazil, and coffee
the principal export. The states of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas
Geraes and Santos, contain the chief coffee-producing lands. The
annual output ranges from about 10,000,000 to 16,000,000 bags (of 120
lb each), whilst the world's annual consumption is more or less
stationary at about 16,000,000 bags. The overwhelming importance of
the Brazilian output is thus evident. Recently efforts have been made
to restrict production to maintain prices, and the Coffee Convention
scheme came into force in Sao Paulo on December 1, 1906, and in Rio de
Janeiro and Minas Geraes on January 1, 1907. The cultivation in
general is very primitive in character, periodical weeding being
almost all the attention the plants receive. Manuring is commonly
confined to mulches of the cut weeds and addition of the coffee husks.
New lands in Sao Paulo yield from 80 cwt. to 100 cwt. of cleaned
coffee per 1000 trees (700 go to the acre); the average yield,
however, is not more than 15 cwt. The plants are at their best when
from 10 to 15 years old, but continue yielding for 30 years or even
more.

_Other South American Countries._--Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,
and to a much less degree Bolivia and Paraguay, produce coffee, the
annual crops of the two former countries being each of about
L1,500,000 in value.

_Central America._--Guatemala produces the most in this region; the
coffee estates are mainly controlled by Germans, who have brought them
to a high pitch of perfection. The crop ranges in value from about
L1,000,000 to L1,500,000 per annum. Costa Rica and San Salvador
produce about half this amount. In Nicaragua, Honduras and Panama,
coffee is extensively cultivated, and all export the product.

_West Indies._--Coff