trees from the extreme heat of the sun; and the banana
is most approved for this purpose, since it raises its own crop at the
same time that it is giving shade to its companion tree. On the higher
levels the plantations need protection from the cold north winds that
blow strongly across the country, especially in December, January, and
February. The range of hills to the north is the best protection, and
generally is all sufficient. When the weather becomes too severe, heaps
of rubbish mixed with pitch are thrown up to the north of the fields of
coffee trees and set afire, the resultant dense smoke driving down
between rows of trees and saving them from the frost.

[Illustration: INDIANS PICKING COFFEE, GUATEMALA]

Named in the order of their productivity, the coffee districts are Costa
Cuca, Costa Grande, Barberena, Tumbador, Coban, Costa de Cucho,
Chicacao, Xolhuitz, Pochuta, Malacatan, San Marcos, Chuva, Panan, Turgo,
Escuintla, San Vincente, Pacaya, Antigua, Moran, Amatitlan, Sumatan,
Palmar, Zunil, and Motagua.

Estimates of coffee acreage vary. One authority, too conservatively,
perhaps, puts the figure at 145,000. Another estimate is 260,000 acres.
Under cultivation are from 70,000,000 to 100,000,000 trees from which an
annual crop averaging about 75,000,000 pounds is raised, and the
exceptional amounts of nearly 90,000,000 and 97,000,000 pounds have been
harvested. Several plantations of size can be counted upon for an annual
production of more than 1,000,000 pounds each.

Before the World War German interests dominated the coffee industry,
handling fully eighty percent of the crop, and growing nearly half of
it.

Planting and cultivation methods in Guatemala are about the same as
those prevailing in other countries. The trees are usually in flower in
February, March, and April, and the harvesting season extends from
August to January. All work on the plantation is done by Indian laborers
under a peonage system, families working in companies: wages are small,
but sufficient, conditions of living being easy. As elsewhere in these
tropical and sub-tropical countries, scarcity of labor is severely
felt, and is a grave obstacle to the development of the industry in a
land that is regarded as particularly well adapted to it.

[Illustration: THE COFFEE PLANTER'S LIFE IN GUATEMALA IS ONE OF
PLEASANTNESS AND PEACE]

HAITI. Haiti, the magic isle of the Indies, has grown coffee almost from
the beginning of the int