y horse or mule.

[Illustration: PICKING COFFEE ON A WELL KEPT FAZENDA]

[Illustration: MANAGER'S RESIDENCE ON ONE OF THE BIG SAO PAULO FAZENDAS]

[Illustration: Photographs by Courtesy of J. Aron & Co.

DRYING GROUNDS ON A MODERN ESTATE IN RIBEIRAO PRETO]

[Illustration: MAKING BRAZIL COFFEE READY TO MARKET]

Some of the larger _fazendas_ cover thousands of acres, and have
several millions of trees, giving the impression of an unending forest
stretching far away into the horizon. Here and there are openings in
which buildings appear, the largest group of structures usually
consisting of those making up the _cafezale_, or cleaning plant. Nearby,
stand the handsome "palaces" of the _fazendeiros_; but not so close that
the coffee princes and their households will be disturbed by the almost
constant rumble of machinery and the voices of the workers.

[Illustration: Copyright by Brown & Dawson.

WORKING COFFEE ON DRYING FLATS, SAO PAULO]

Brazilian _fazendeiros_ follow the methods described in the foregoing in
preparing their coffee for market, using the most modern of the
equipment detailed under the story of the wet method of preparation. On
most of the _fazendas_ the machinery is operated by steam or
electricity, the latter coming more and more into use each year in all
parts of the coffee-growing region.

In some districts, however, far in the interior, there are still to be
found small plantations where primitive methods of cleaning are even now
practised. Producing but a small quantity of coffee, possibly for only
local use, the cherries may be freed of their parchment by macerating
the husks by hand labor in a large mortar. On still another plantation,
the old-time bucket-and-beam crusher perhaps may be in use.

This consists of a beam pivoted on an upright upon which it moves freely
up and down. On one end of the beam is an open bucket; and on the other,
a heavy stone. Water runs into the bucket until its weight causes the
stone end of the beam to rise. When the bucket reaches the ground, the
water is emptied, and the stone crashes down on the coffee cherries
lying in a large mortar.

[Illustration: FERMENTING AND WASHING TANKS ON A SAO PAULO FAZENDA]

The workers on some of the largest Brazilian _fazendas_ would constitute
the population of a small city--more than a thousand families often
finding continuous employment in cultivating, harvesting, cleaning, and
transporting the coffee to market. For th