. Passos.]

The coffee trees can stand cold--if not of long duration--down to
freezing-point, as well as a fairly high temperature. Unlike the Liberia
coffee, they fare better on undulating or broken ground than on the flat.

Two distinct seasons--the dry and the rainy--each of about six months'
duration--such as are found in the above-mentioned States of Brazil, seem
perfectly to suit the growth of the coffee trees. The trees are in bloom
for three or four days some time during the months of September to
December. If the rains are not abundant when the trees are in blossom,
and during the maturing of the fruits, the latter do not develop
properly, especially those at the end of the branches, where the berries
become dry before their time or even do not form. If the rain comes too
long before the trees are in bloom it causes the blossoms to open before
their time and they are frequently spoiled by the cold which follows. The
coffee beans are collected in April, during the dry weather.

The coffee trees are very sensitive to winds, cold or hot, especially
when blowing continuously in the same direction, which causes the undue
fall of leaves and rupture of the bark at the neck of the roots. Wind,
indeed, is one of the most dangerous enemies of coffee trees, and it is
to obviate this danger that in many countries--but not in Brazil--a
protecting plantation in lines of other trees--generally useful fruit
trees--is adopted in order to screen the coffee trees from the prevailing
wind, as well as to give a further income from the fruit produced.

It has been proved that even from good trees below a certain altitude the
coffee is of inferior quality, while above that height the crop becomes
irregular. In zones fully exposed to the sun the quality is superior to
that of regions where the sun does not reach or only reaches for a short
portion of the day.

The _Coffea Arabica_ is not particularly exacting in the quality of the
soil, but the soil on which it flourishes best is that formed in great
part by decomposed vegetable matter--as, for instance, from ancient trees
mixed with volcanic earth, such as the famous red earth of the State of
Sao Paulo. Volcanic cinders also are said to be wonderful fertilizers for
the soil, and well adapted for the welfare of coffee trees.

One thing is undoubted, and that is that the State of Sao Paulo possesses
the ideal soil for coffee plantations. Analysis has shown that, curiously
enough,