ufficient number, or a sufficient space of
Barbecues or Secadors, sixty or seventy barrels only are put
together; but from want of room it often happens that the quantity
amounts to a hundred barrels. In either case, the whole is gathered
into two great heaps, and in this state it is allowed to remain for
four-and-twenty hours, in order to subject it to a certain degree of
fermentation. After this, it is spread out to dry over the whole
surface of the Barbecue, and until it is sufficiently so, it remains
there uncovered day and night. When the dessication is found to be
far enough advanced, it is no longer exposed during the night; nor
even during the day, if the weather be damp or unfavorable. The
subsequent operations are certainly not better, probably not so
well, conducted as in our own West India possessions.

In the fourth year, it is presumed that the agricultural produce of
the land, and the first returns of coffee, should be sufficient to
meet all the current expenses. At the end of the fifth year there
ought to be forty thousand coffee trees four years old on the
estate, 60,000 of three years, and 100,000 of two and one year, the
produce of which ought to be at least 400 quintals, which, at a
moderate estimate, should be worth 2,400 dollars. Thus the
calculation goes on until we arrive at the end of the seventh year,
when the estate ought to be in full bearing. The returns are
estimated at 3,000 arrobas, or 750 quintals, which, at eight dollars
per quintal delivered free on board, make 6,000 dollars. The minor
products of the estate, such as Indian corn, pigs, and oil, are
given at 1,130 dollars, making the gross returns 7,130 dollars; and,
after deducting the annual expenses, leaving 5,300 dollars as the
regular return on the capital invested, which, having been about
40,000 dollars, gives about thirteen per cent.; not certainly to be
considered extravagant in a country where twelve per cent, is the
regular rate of interest. The produce of coffee from each section is
given at 400 arrobas, or 3,500 arrobas for the whole of the nine
sections. The average price of coffee, free of the expense of
carriage, is assumed to be two dollars the arroba, or eight dollars
per quintal, which would give a return of 7,200 dollars, besides the
repayment of the rent by the colonists.

The