Coffee is gone, but the existence of this farm as an institution continues, and the decadence has not yet fallen onto it. This farm constitutes therefore a landmark in the agrarian history of São Paulo.

Santa Gertrudes Farm originated from the Sesmaria do Morro Azul (sesmarias were large chunks of land which were given by the Emperor to basically to the few who had enough money to develop the land into productive farms; this particular sesmaria, Morro Azul - Blue Mount - was granted, in 1817, to Joaquin Galvão de França, José Galvão de França, inhabitants of Itu, and Manoel de Barros Ferraz from Piracicaba) just like other important sugar cane and coffee farms as Ibicaba, Morro Azul and Paraguaçu.

As Ibicaba, which belonged to Nicolau De Campos Vergueiro, Santa Gertrudes Farm also had as a starting point the lands of a sugar cane mill. Its origins is in the small Laranja Azeda farm that Amador de Lacerda Rodrigues Jordão (son of Brigadier Manoel Rodrigues Jordão, one of the most notable men of its time, both for its wealth and prestige, and of Dona Gertrudes Galvão de Moura Lacerda, honorary lady of the imperial palace, representative figure of the São Paulo society of the XIX century and owner of some farms.

Amador de Lacerda Rodrigues Jordão was married in 1852 to Maria Hypólita Dos Santos Silva, daughter of the Baron of Itapetininga; he was honored in 1858 with the title of Baron de São João do Rio Claro; he was a provincial member of the house of representatives for many legislatures and a general member of the house of representatives), received after his mother Gertrudes died in 1848.

The small Laranja Azeda Farm had its name changed by Amador de Lacerda Rodrigues Jordão to Santa Gertrudes Farm in homage to his mother. But this designation started to predominate in the documentation beginning in 1856. Initially dedicated to the sugar cane culture, focusing in the production of sugar and cachaça, Santa Gertrudes Farm, little by little started to cultivate coffee as well.

In 1857 the farm appears in the documentation as sugar cane and coffee plantation, occupying 3,918.0 acres. Only in the year of 1861 coffee clearly appears as the main agricultural activity of the city of Rio Claro, the property produced 6000 arrobas (1 arroba = 60 kilos) of coffee, 2000 of sugar and 30 pipes of cachaça.

However, by 1870, only 20 years after its formation, Santa Gertrudes Farm came to be one of the greatest of São Paulo and its owner one of the biggest farmers of its time with very fertile and productive land. When the Baron of São João do Rio Claro died in 1873, the farm passed to his wife, Maria Hipólita Dos Santos Silva. The Baroness of São João do Rio Claro, in 1876 married the then Baron and later Marquis of Três Rios who took control of the farm up to 1893.

Little more than 40 years after its formation, in 1893, the farm covered an area of approximately 4,688.2 acres, therefore it expanded in more than five hundred acres; it produced 30000 arrobas of coffee, five times the production in 1861 when the number of arrobas were only 6000, placing itself as the greatest producer of coffee of the city of Rio Claro. The farmhouse had luxuries of a true urban house, normal fact in São Paulo in the golden period of the coffee expansion.

The terraces, part of them with tiles and the shed for the coffee processing machines situated in the surrounding of the farmhouse were completed with the colonies spread between the 600000 plants of coffee. There were eighty-five houses for workers.

The farm, along with all its goods was evaluated in 1893 and the transformation operated by the coffee since 1848 made the value of the property increase in 90 times in these 45 years of coffee activity. In 1893, with the death of the Marquis of Três Rios and the Marquise in the years following, the farm was inherited by Eduardo Prates married to the sister of the Marquise of Três Rios, who had not had any children.

Despite the resultant alterations which happen because the change of owner in 1895 it did not affect the ascending rhythm of the farm. Eduardo Prates sped it up even more. Owner of the farm in a very favourable period for the expansion of the coffee. Eduardo Prates, a Pope Count, in accordance to the title awarded by the Pope Lion XIII, was an active business-oriented man, a capitalist of São Paulo, in 1895 finds himself a coffee farmer, owner of Santa Gertrudes Farm, considered one of the most important coffee producers.

The pioneer in new lands was not Eduardo Prates who used all his energy in fighting against nature, but the energetic and capable owner, worried about using a more advanced technology for a greater development of his property. He was the city dweller made into farmer, who upon receiving the farm as inheritance (it had belonged to the sister of his wife), took to the field all the experience of a business-oriented man, always open to the innovations. He dedicated himself to many activities (imports and real estate), bank investments, the promotion of the São Paulo Railroad Company, the company of general warehouses of São Paulo and the company of carriers and industries.

Very active, as the time demanded, Eduardo Prates was a member of associations, for his economic interests , such as the trade and agricultural association of São Paulo and the Brazilian Agricultural Society. Eduardo Prates, among many enterprises of his life, topped it with religious and philanthropic activities, which in Brazil, an officially catholic country, was not only a test of religious fervour, it provided to the people who did this a great status in society, and in the case of Eduardo Prates, also the title of Count.

He had a passion for horse riding and was a pure blood breeder, founded and was the first president of Sociedade Hípica de São Paulo, and one of the most creative developers of the city of São Paulo and he was responsible for the first urbanistic plan carried by French architect Bouvard.

He innovated the religious rural aspect when the Lateran Church of Rome incorporated the chapel of the farm, quite a rare phenomenon, mainly because being it a chapel of a farm in a time when not even the churches of the capital São Paulo enjoyed the same indulgences granted to the Santa Gertrudes Chapel. The farm became then a model of agricultural property worth being shown to illustrious foreign and national visitors. Both Nationals and Foreigners were representative personalities of the time.

chapel with all its belongings in order to satisfy the spiritual necessities of the residents. It was also independent when it comes to recreation, it was the only farm of the region that provided its employees cinematographic spectacles before 1930.

In the farm there were specialised establishments for the supplying of the resident community. There was a market, butcher's and drugstore. It had also the chapel with all its belongings in order to satisfy the spiritual necessities of the residents. It was also independent when it comes to recreation, it was the only farm of the region that provided its employees cinematographic spectacles before 1930.

In relation to the installations and premises ,the area where the owner's house, the chapel and the machinery shed was the centre, that formed the axle around which all the life of the property turned. The terraces were the centre of the manipulation of the coffee and all the other parts worked in function of it. The terraces, similar to an urban square, was a source not only of economic activities, but also of leisure, recreation, as well as religious.

Other constructions were part of the set , the processing shed, the bunker silo, the sawmill and carpentry , the smith, the houses for the administrator and other workers. The farm house has influences of diverse elements. The roof falls for the side, which shows German influence, pilasters and use of forged iron as ornament are other features observed in this residence. One notices that Eduardo Prates demonstrated a great concern with the beautification of his property through the gardens around the house. The houses of the colonies were made of bricks, covered with roof tiles, constructed in one floor, most of them semi-detached, understanding each one of the four rooms of the house, three served as bedrooms and living room, a deposit and a kitchen. The bathroom had still not been incorporated.

The population of the farm, between 1905 and 1912 reached and exceeded the mark of two thousand inhabitants. In 1898 the farm house was already illuminated by acetylene gas and four years later , in 1902, a contract with the power plant of Rio Claro brought this new type of energy and illumination for the farm, the electric energy. In 1904 the telephone put the property in contact with some urban centres.

A bigger demand of energy to put the machines into motion and the constant falls of electric energy harmed the production, which made Eduardo Prates break away with the power plant of Rio Claro and brought a Wolf generator to the farm. The development of the farm and the construction of the station of the São Paulo railroad company in its border made the current city of Santa Gertrudes (1948) appear and prosper. The proximity of the farm with the capital São Paulo - only four or five hours by railway, allowed the traveller to make contact with a coffee farm in one or the maximum of two days, time enough to cover the installations and plantation. The visitors of the farm were many times invited by the own government of the state of São Paulo; other guests by the owner and his friends. The visits came generally from the capital in trains of the São Paulo Railway Company.

The importance of the farm does not lie only in the fact of it being a model property in the coffee production, worth being seen by illustrious personalities. The Farm was the most important coffee property of the city of Rio Claro, in the old São Paulo west. This model property was an example of a complex coffee capitalist company.

This farm had the biggest concentration of foreign workers and its descendants, amongst the farms of the region. It was possible to locate for the period of 1897 - 1902 Italian families who were destined to the farm, as well as national, most from the state of Ceará, that in 1920 were also directed to the property. For the period of 1903 - 1914 the registers of the Immigrants Lodge state that a few Italian, Austrian, Portuguese and Spanish families were directed to the farm, but for 1915 - 1920 the books do not present any family to the farm. However the documents of the farm show the inbound of some Italian and Spanish families, coming from Argentina, and for 1918 - 1919 the Japanese arrive in this property. For the year of 1920 the register of the Immigrants Lodge shows that more than a hundred of nationals, coming from the state of Ceará, came to the farm. For the period of 1921 - 1930, when national immigration started to become bigger than the foreigner, the Immigrants Lodge does not register any immigrant in route to that farm.

In preserved books there is information regarding the workers families, in says respect to their size, quantity of workers, their production and their incomes, besides supplying some information on the type of farming done here. European workers predominated as much in the coffee culture as in backing activities. The Italians and its descendants had always consisted the majority among the colonists; being followed by the Portuguese, Spaniards, and some of Germanic origin.

The Japanese did not adapt to the work in this property and the national ones up to 1920 had been a small minority, appearing with more intensity after this date, when a great deal of people from the state of Ceará was introduced.

Between 1895 and 1930 , the workers of Italian origin represented in average, about 65% of the man power used . This percentage was bigger in the next years to the 1900, a time when the input of Italians in Brazil was, in the turn of the century, also more voluminous.

The data raised at the Immigrants Lodge, on the families with destination to Santa Gertrudes , mainly mention the Italian families who were directed to the farm between 1897 - 1902 and the families from Ceará , who started to arrive in 1920. The size and composition of the families is directly related to the family structure of the country of origin, in the case of Italy, for example, the families of small proprietors, leaseholders and sharecroppers of Veneto, who had predominated in immigration to Brazil in the previous period up to 1885 were large families, made up by two or three men and their respective wives and children. On the other hand, the families from Braccianti, also in Veneto, who had formed the great majority of arms for the coffee, after 1885, according to books, were made up of five people at maximum, normally a couple with children and sometimes the father or the mother of the head. For the period of 1903 - 1914 the registers of the inns appointed 30 families of European origin to Santa Gertrudes . Of these 63% were Italian and the remaining number was formed by Austrian , Portuguese and Spanish. In 1920, the people from the state of Ceará are introduced in the farm, in a total of 132 families, most of them having an average of 4.8 people.

Os dados levantados na hospedaria dos imigrantes, sobre as famílias com destino a Santa Gertrudes, referem-se principalmente as famílias italianas que se dirigiram à fazenda entre 1897 - 1902 e as famílias cearenses. Que adentraram nesta propriedade em 1920.

Differently from the Italians, the Ceará families would include, apart from parents and brothers of the head, brothers-in-law, uncles, cousins, nephews, grandmothers and grandsons, in a clear demonstration that the requirements had been loosened regarding the composition of the family who would receive the pass for the São Paulo Coffee Farms. One curious fact is that, among the Ceará families, women quite often appeared as heads of the families, fact extremely rare between the Italian and European families . In the case of the Ceará families, most of the heads were widows, but there were also cases of single women with children and married women, without the husband, with children and other relatives.

knowing the potential of the work force of these families. By the way, the requirements for the family to get the subsidised pass was that they had to know agriculture and had to have at least one masculine element between 12 and 45 years of age. Of the Italians (55%) and the people from the state of Ceará (60%) were older than 12 years and were therefore considered apt for the work.

The documentation of the farm points out that 49% of the Italians and also of the people from Ceará were considered " work people ". This sample is composed by 26 Italian families with 126 people, being 62 " work people " and 101 from Ceará families with 498 people being 246 " work people ". We can estimate that all men older than 12 years were workers, so it can be deduced that the difference between the presented percentages above (55% - 49% = 6% for Italians and 60% - 49% = 11% for the people from Ceará) represents the women older than 12 that did not participate in the productive work. Applying these percentages to 26 of these families identified in the documentation of the farm we get that that 70 of the 126 people would have to be 12 years or more (36 were men and 34 women).

If all the men aged 12 years or more were considered apt for work and if the total work force was 62 people, I concluded that of the 34 women, only 26were included in the work force. The picture of the immigrant families for the coffee, at the moment of its introduction in São Paulo, leaves no doubt that independent of its origin and in contrast to what the farmers intended, numerous families and with many workers, these families were not large. They had in average five elements and relatively young.

The Family in the Coffee Production: Production and Payments. The Colonato ,when matching distinct forms of production, also provided the colonist a payment in money for the treatment and harvest and the production of its subsistence. The money received for the treatment and the harvest generally did not cover the survival needs of the family. The paid wages to the colonists varied from region to region, from farm to farm, from year to year, even inside the own farm. Its value was directly related to the conditions offered for the subsistence farming and practically had nothing to do with the offer and demand of man power.

The treatment represented almost half of the monetary income of the colonist, while the harvest was responsible for about 39% the rest came from daily wages and other jobs. Although these proportions did not vary much when it is about the size of the family, the treatment when it is related to a larger number of workers tends to diminish while the other sources tended to slightly increase its participation in the income, relating to the number of workers in the familiar group.

The documentation of the farm allowed us to estimate the budget of a family in the property for the year of 1913. This family, composed by the husband, his wife, two adolescent sons aged between 12 and 16 years plus a small child appears in the documentation of the farm as a family of 5 people and two hoes. In 1913 they dealt with 5081 plants of coffee receiving therefore the importance of R$ 406$480, harvested 903 alqueires of coffee receiving R$ 415$500 (this was one year of excellent harvest) and executed 33.25 daily jobs totalling R$ 74$625, besides receiving R$ 90$300 as bonus for the harvest paid by the farmer to all colonists who had concluded the agricultural year in Santa Gertrudes.

Therefore, this family received from the farm the importance of R$ 986$905. Therefore, it can be inferred that the colonato system was advantageous for the families who were in their prime of productive capacity and knew how to benefit to the maximum from it . The families living in farms next to the urban centres had the option of selling the excess of its subsistence production and to make its purchases there avoiding the higher prices in the farm warehouse, at a time when the staples were sufficiently expensive.

Finally, it is necessary to state that other factor made the success or the failure of the family in this system.