The latter reach full height within six months and afford shade
until guava and other shade trees planted on the field have attained
sufficient size. A wait of five years is necessary before the coffee
bushes begin to bear, but after that they continue indefinitely every
year, the only labor required being that of keeping the plantation
clear of brush and picking the berries when they are ripe. The trees
grow to a height of six or eight feet; they bloom with a fragrant,
white, star-like flower which on withering leaves the green embryo of
the berry. When the berry has reached the size of a hazel-nut it turns
red and is picked, much of the picking being done by women. The
berries are poured into a simple machine which extracts the two coffee
beans encased in each berry. The beans are dried in the sun, on the
largest plantations in drying machines. They are then transported to
the merchants in town, where they are polished in another machine,
assorted and bagged for export. The town of Moca owes its name to the
fact that the principal coffee plantations lie in its vicinity.
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