ffee
preparation; and the bulk of the crop is natural, or unwashed.

GUATEMALA. Most Guatemalas are prepared for market by the wet method.
The gathering of the crops furnishes employment for half the population.
German and American settlers have introduced the latest improvements in
modern plantation machinery into Guatemala.

MEXICO. In Mexico coffee is harvested from November to January, and
large quantities are prepared by both the dry and the wet methods, the
latter being practised on the larger estates that have the necessary
water supply and can afford the machinery. Here, too, one will find
coffee being cleaned by the primitive hand-mortar and wind-winnowing
method. Laborers are mostly half-breeds and Indians. Chinese coolies
have been tried and found satisfactory, and some Japanese are utilized,
though not largely.

[Illustration: STREET CAR COFFEE TRANSPORT IN ORIZABA, MEXICO]

HAITI. In Haiti the picking season is from November to March. In recent
years better attention has been paid to cultural and preparation
methods; and the product is more favorably regarded commercially. Large
quantities are shipped to France and Belgium; and much of that sent to
the United States is reshipped to France, Belgium, and Germany, where it
is sorted by hand. Both dry and wet methods are employed in Haiti.

PORTO RICO. Here planters favor the wet method of coffee preparation.
The crop is gathered from August to December. The coffees are graded as
_caracollilo_ (peaberry), _primero_ (hand-picked), _segundo_ (second
grade), _trillo_ (low grade).

[Illustration: COFFEE ON THE DRYING FLOORS IN PORTO RICO]

NICARAGUA. The wet method of coffee preparation is mostly favored in
Nicaragua. Many of the large plantations are worked by colonies of
Americans and Germans who are competent to apply the abundant natural
water power of the country to the operation of modern coffee cleaning
machinery.

COSTA RICA. Costa Rica was one of the first countries of the western
world to use coffee cleaning machinery. Marcus Mason, an American
mechanical engineer then managing an iron foundry in Costa Rica,
invented three machines that would respectively peel off the husk,
remove the parchment and pulp, and winnow the light refuse from the
beans.

The inventor gave his original demonstration to the planters of San Jose
in 1860, and duplicates were installed on all the large plantations. In
the course of the next thirty years, Mason brought out