'Handbook of Yemen' [‎23r] (50/190)

the foothills in April. Millet is the staple, with maize
and sesame next in importance, and grass grows plentifully
after rain.
The Main Ridge, including the Intramontane Uplands
(though their soil is not naturally so fertile as in the lowlands
and must be artificially renewed from time to time), is the
most productive part of Yemen, the rainfall, as shown in a
previous section, being more abundant and regular, and
the inhabitants, comparatively speaking, more virile,
active, and industrious. The staple product is coffee ;
then follow bearded wheat and barley, and fodder and
garden produce.
Coffee as an Arabian crop is peculiar to the Yemen high
lands. The plant flourishes at any altitude between 4,000
and 8,000 feet, and is first met between Hodeidah and
San c a soon after one leaves Hajjeilah. It is not indigenous
to Arabia, but was introduced from Abyssinia during the
Ethiopian invasion before the dawn of Islam. The berries
used for seed purposes are first placed in the sun to dry
until the husk cracks of itself and can be easily opened,
care being taken in so doing not to injure the inner skin
of the bean. To produce young plants, the -farmer selects
a patch of ground free from stones with at least one foot
of good soil ; he damps this and smooths it down, presses
each bean to a depth of a few inches into the prepared
ground, and covers it with a further inch or so of loose fine
soil. Artificial shade is then provided, usually of branches,
with an aperture at the top so that sunlight may fall for
an hour or so daily on each part of the planted surface.
The bed is watered every two or three days and the shoots
appear in about a month. The seedlings may be planted
out about four months after they appear and the plant
reaches maturity in five years, attaining a height of from
eight to ten feet, and it will be too old to be profitable after
about t wenty years. The plantations are laid out in terraces
up the hill-sides and follow their curves ; they are faced
with stones which sometimes enclose a strip a few feet wide