Plate I.— A Branch of Coflfea Arabica, with Berries and Flowers. COFFEE AND CHICOEY: CULTURE, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, PREPARATION FOR MARKET, AND CONSUMPTION, SIMPLE TESTS FOR DETECTING ADULTERATION, PRACTICAL HINTS FOR THE PRODUCER AND CONSUMER. or WE ' UNIVERSITY P. L. AUTHOR OF "THE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM,' "A DICTIONARY OF TRADE PRODUCTS," &C. WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: E. & F. N. SPON, 16, BUCKLERSBURY. 1864. -55 PREFACE. A PRACTICAL essay on the culture and preparation of coffee for market in the various producing countries of the world, brought down to the present time, has long been wanted, especially as the sources of supply have changed so much of late years. Porter's "Tropical Agri- culturist" has long been out of print, and my own work on " The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom" is too expensive and too diffuse for ordinary reference. The present hand-book deals with the subject in a popular form, .but, at the same time, supplies correct information on most points, combined with the fullest descriptive and statistical details respecting every coffee-producing country. For much of the information relating to coffee cultivation in Ceylon, I am indebted to a small treatise by Mr. Gr. C. Lewis, privately published in that island. For the views of buildings and scenery, I am under obligations to Sir IV PREFACE. t Emerson Tennent and Messrs. "Worms, who kindly lent me original drawings and photographs — whilst the micro- scopic representations of pure and adulterated coffee and chicory are copied, by permission, from Dr. Hassall's ela- borate work on "Food and its Adulterations." Trusting that this little work may be found useful and interesting to a large class, I send it forth as the pioneer of other hand-books on the great staples of commerce. P. L. S. 8, Winchester-street, S.W., July, 1864. CONTENTS. COFFEE. SECTION I. PAGE BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COFFEE-TREE (with tico illus- trations} . . .... . . . . .1 SECTION II. HISTORY OF ITS INTRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION . . G SECTION III. PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY 12 SECTION IV. COMMERCIAL VARIETIES OF COFFEE 15 SECTION V. CHEMICAL ANALYSES 20 SECTION VI. COFFEE-LEAF TEA, &c 27 SECTION VII. ADULTERANTS (with an illustration) 29 SECTION VIII. CULTURE IN THE WEST INDIES AND AMERICA ... 34 SECTION IX. CULTURE IN ARABIA 42 I VI CONTENTS. SECTION X. PAGE CULTIVATION IN CEYLON (with an illustration) . .45 SECTION XI. BUILDINGS, PLANTING, &c., IN CEYLON (with four illustra- tions') 52 SECTION XII. HABVESTING THE CROP, AND PREPARATION FOR MARKET (with an illustration) 59 SECTION XIII. PREPARATION FOR MARKET, CONTINUED . . . .63 SECTION XIV. CULTIVATION IN SOUTHERN INDIA 73 SECTION XV. BOURBON, JAVA, AND THE EAST . . . . .78 SECTION XVI. COFFEE AS A BEVERAGE 81 CHICORY. SECTION I. INTRODUCTION INTO ENGLAND. CONTINENTAL PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION . . .',..'.'. . . .88 SECTION II. CULTIVATION. HARVESTING AND PREPARATION FOR MARKET 93 SECTION III. STRUCTURE AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION (with an illustration) 98 - COFFEE AND CHICORY, COFFEE. SECTION I. BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. THE coffee-tree — Coffea ardbica, Linn.— is a plant belong- ing to the natural order CincJionacecB. It is a large erect bush, quite smooth in every part ; leaves oblong lanceolate, acuminate, shining on the upper side, wavy, deep green above, paler below ; stipules subulate, undivided. Peduncles axillary, sbort, clustered ; corollas white, funnel-shaped, sweet-scented, with four or five oblong-spreading twisted lobes. Fruit a compressed drupe, furrowed along the aide, crowned by the calyx. Seeds solitary, plano-convex, with a deep furrow along the flat side. Putamen like parchment. The generic name given to the plant by Linnaeus was taken, it is said, from Coffee, a province of Narea, in Africa where it grows in abundance. Plate 1 represents a branch of the coffee-tree in blossom B and fruit, and the lettered figures at the foot have reference to the dissection of the flower and fruit. A — The flower, cut open, to show the situation of the five filaments, with their summits lying upon them. B — Eepresents the flower cup, with its four small inden- tations enclosing the germ or embryo seed-vessel, from the middle of which arises the style, terminated by the two reflexed spongy tops-. C — The fruit entire, marked at the top with a puncture like a navel. D — The fruit open, to show that it consists ordinarily of two seeds, which are surrounded by the pulp. , E— The fruit cut horizontally, to show the seeds as they are placed erect, with their flat sides, together. E — One of the seeds taken out, with the membrane or parchment upon it. G — The same with the parchment torn open, to give a view of the seed. H — The seed without the parchment. Lindley and Paxton only enumerate two species : C. ara- lica, native of Yemen, and C. paniculata, indigenous to Guiana. Continental botanists, however, describe no less than eight other species : four inhabiting Peru, C. microcarpa, C. um- Ijellata, C. acuminata, and C. siibsessilis; two indigenous to the West Coast of Africa, G. laurina and C. racemosa ; and two natives of the East Indies, C. ~bengalensis and C. Indica. Some of these are probably mere varieties. Whatever its origin may have been, there can be no doubt that there are three kinds or species now grown, differing materially from each other. • The Arabian or Mocha coffee is characterised by having a small and more brittle leaf, with branches shorter, and more upright than the Jamaica and Ceylon coffee ; and by its berry being almost always, or at least very frequently, single seeded, and the seed cylindrical and plump. The Jamaica coffee-tree has a larger and more pliable leaf, longer and more drooping brandies, and berries almost always containing two seeds. (The Ethiopian.) The great difference now existing between the two kinds, may possibly have originated in the change of soil, climate, and season, operating through a series of years ; but this difference is so decided, and so strongly marked, that thev veriest tyro can in a moment pronounce of either. The East India or Bengal coffee-tree differs much from all others, but is in every respect a veritable coffee. The leaf is smaller, and lighter green, than the fore- going variety ; its berry is infinitely smaller, and when ripening, turns black instead of blood-red. Coffee made from it is of excellent flavour, and much liked. "Within the tropics, coffee thrives best at an elevation of 1200 to 3000 feet, and rarely grows above 6000 feet. It may be cultivated as far as 36° north latitude, where the mean temperature is about 70°. In the western hemisphere coffee is grown in many of the "West India Islands, in Central America, the northern Re- publics of South America, Berbice, Cayenne, and Brazil. In Africa it is grown in Liberia and other parts of Western Africa, at St. Helena, in Egypt, and Mozambique, and a little in Natal. Passing eastward we find it in Arabia, one of the oldest seats of culture, the southern peninsula of India, Ceylon, Bourbon, Java, Celebes, and other parts of the Eastern Archipelago, Siam, and some of the Pacific Islands. Coffee-plants are able to bear an amount of cold which is little known or thought of. The high and cold regions of Jamaica near St. Catherine's Peak, and the foo't of the Great Blue Mountain Peak, both situated at some 6000 feet above B2 4 the level of the sea ; and, again, the mountains of Arabia, the Neilgherries, and Ceylon, furnish instances of the great degree of cold that the coffee-plant will endure. More than this, it is an established fact that it bears a larger, plumper, and far more aromatic berry at these altitudes than in a lower situation and in a warmer temperature. The coffee produced on plantations near the foot of the Blue Mountain Peak, in Jamaica, is the Bnest in the world. In Arabia, like- wdse, the cold at night is sometimes intense ; yet who will dispute the goodness of Mocha coffee ? Nothing can exceed the beauty of the rows or walks planted with coffee-trees, from their pyramidical shape and glossy dark leaves, amongst which are hanging the ripe, scarlet-coloured berries. A writer, in his >•" Impressions of the "West Indies," thus speaks: "Anything in the way of cultivation more beautiful or more fragrant than a coffee- plantation I had not conceived, and oft did I say to myself that if ever I became, from health or otherwise, a cultivator of tl^e soil within the tropics, I would cultivate the coffee- plant, even though I did so irrespective altogether of the profit that might be derived from so doing. Much has been written, and not without justice, of the rich fragrance of an orange-grove, and at home we ofttimes hear of the sweet odours of a bean-field. I have, too, often enjoyed, in the Carse of Stirling and elsewhere in Scotland, the balmy breezes as they swept over the latter, particularly when the sun had burst out with unusual strength after a shower of rain. I have likewise in Martinique, Santa Cruz, Jamaica, and Cuba, inhaled the breezes wafted from the orangeries, but not for a moment would I compare either with the ex- quisite aromatic odours from a coffee-plantation in full bloom, when the hill-side — covered over with regular rows of the shrubs, with their millions of jasmine-like flowers — showers down upon you as you ride up between the plants a perfume of the most delicately delicious description. 'Tis worth going to the West Indies to see the sight and inhale the per- fume." Plate 2 represents a coffee plantation in Jamaica. In the culture of the tree there is a singular difference in the western and eastern hemispheres, inasmuch as in the former shade is considered injurious, whilst in the latter it is held to be desirable, if not absolutely necessary. SECTION II. HISTORY OF ITS INTRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION. COFFEE, although taking its common and specific names from Arabia, is not a native plant of that country, but of Abyssinia, where it is found both in the wild and cultivated state. From that country it was brought to Arabia, in com- paratively very recent times. Mr. Lane states that it was first used there about the year 1450. It was not known to the Arabs, therefore, for more than eight hundred years after the time of Mahomed, and was introduced only between forty and fifty years before the discovery of America. The Arabians called coffee kahwah, which is an old word in their language for wine. The unlucky word gave rise to a dispute about the legality of its use among the Mahornedan doctors, who, mistaking the word for the thing it represented, de- nounced as a narcotic that which was anti-narcotic. They were beaten, and coffee has ever since become a legitimate and favourite potable of the Arabs. In a century its use spread to Egypt and other parts of the Turkish empire. For two centuries from its introduction into Arabia, the use of coffee seems to have been confined to the Mahomedan nations of "Western Asia ; and, considering its rapid spread and popularity among the ^European nations, it is remarkable that it has not, like tobacco, extended to the Hindus, the Hindu- Chinese, the Japanese, or the tribes of the Indian Archipelago, who no more use it than the Euro- peans do the betel preparation. The high price of coffee and the low cost of tobacco, most likely afford the true solution of the difference. One striking result of the use of coffee first, and then of tobacco, among the Mahomedan nations is well deserving of notice. These commodities have been in a great measure substituted for wine and spirits, which had been largely, although clandestinely, used before, and hence a great improvement in the sobriety of Arabs, Persians, and Turks. I give this interesting fact on the authority of Mr» Lane, who mentions it in the notes to his translation of the Arabian Nights.* Prom Turkey coffee found its way to Europe. It came in use in England before either tea or chocolate. A Turkey merchant of London, of the name of Edwards, is said to have brought the first bag of coffee to England, and his Greek servant to have made the first dish of English coffee about 1652. But it is stated in the Life of Wood, the antiquary, that " in 1651, one Jacob, a Jew, opened a coffee-house at the Angel, in the parish of St. Peter-in-the-East, Oxon ; and there it was, by some who delighted in noveltie, drunk. "When he left Oxon, he sold it in Old Southampton-buildings, in Holborne, near London, and was living there in 1671." j Coffee-houses were soon after opened in various parts of the metropolis, as also in other parts of the kingdom, for vending it. The excise officers visited the coffee-houses at fixed periods, and took an account of the number of gallons of the liquid that were made, upon which a duty of 4d. per gallon was charged until 1689. Three years after the first introduction of coffee upon the statute books, the increase of houses for its sale had become so great, that by the Act passed in 1663, " For the better ordering and collecting the duty of excise, aud pre- venting the abuses therein" (15 Chas. II., cap. 11, sect. 15), express provision is made for the licensing of all coffee- * Mr. J. Crawfurd on the History of Coffee, in the Statistical Society's Journal, vol. xv. p. 51. houses at the quarter sessions, under a penalty of 51. for every month during which any person should retail coffee, chocolate, or tea, without having first procured such license from the magistrates. From that time to the revolution, coffee-houses multiplied so rapidly that, when Ray published his "History of Plants" in 1688, he estimated that the coffee-houses in London were at that time as numerous as in Cairo itself ; whilst similar places of accommodation were to be met with in all the principal cities and towns in Eng- land. There are now in London alone more than 1500 coffee- houses, besides confectioners' shops, and other places where coffee is vended. For half a century at least Arabia furnished all the coffee that Europe consumed, which, therefore, must have been very trifling. It was, in fact, long the luxury of a few fashionable people, with whom, however, it must have been in general use sixty years after its introduction, as we find from the well-known passage of the " Rape of the Lock," published in 1712, in which politicians are described as seeing through it " with half-shut eyes." Le Grand d'Aussy, in his "Vie Privee des Eran9ais," gives a curious and interesting account of the first introduc- tion of the use of coffee in France. As early as 1658 some merchants of Marseilles introduced the use of coffee into that city, and Thevenot, after his return from his Eastern travels, about the year 1658, regaled his guests with coffee after dinner. "This, however," says Le Grand, "was but the eccen- tricity of a traveller, which would not come into fashion among such a people as the Parisians. To bring coffee into credit, some extraordinary and striking circumstance was necessary. This circumstance occurred on the arrival, in 1669, of an embassy from the Grand Seigneur Mahomet IV. to Louis XIV. Soliman Aga, chief of the mission, having passed six months in the capital, and during his stay having acquired the friendship of the Parisians by some traits of wit and gallantry, several persons of distinction, chiefly women, had the curiosity to visit him at his house. The manner in which he received them not only inspired a wish to renew the visit, "but induced others to follow their example. He caused coffee to be served to his guests, according to the custom of his country ; for since fashion had introduced the custom of serving this beverage among the Turks, civility demanded that it should be offered to visitors, as well as that those should not decline partaking of it. If a Frenchman, in a similar case, to please the ladies, had presented to them this black and bitter liquor, he would be rendered for ever ridiculous. But the beverage was served by a Turk — a gallant Turk — and this was sufficient to give it inestimable value. Besides, before the palate could judge, the eyes were seduced by the display of elegance and neatness which ac- companied it, by those brilliant porcelain cups into which it was poured, by napkins with gold fringes, on which it was served to the ladies ; add to this the furniture, the dresses, and the foreign customs, the strangeness of addressing the host through the interpreter, being seated on the ground, on tiles, &c., and you will allow that there was more than enough to turn the heads of French women. Leaving the hotel of the ambassador with an enthusiasm easily imagined, they hastened to their acquaintances, to speak of the coffee of which they had partaken ; and Heaven only knows to what a degree they were excited." The extravagant price of coffee, notwithstanding that the fashion of drinking it was established, prevented it from coming into general use. It was only to be had, according to Le Grand, at Marseilles, and even there not in any quantity. Labat, quoted by him, states that the price at this time was 10 the enormous one of forty crowns a pound. In 1672, an Armenian opened in Paris the first coffee-house, on the plan of those he had seen at Constantinople. Pascal was followed by a crowd of imitators, whose numbers became so great in 1676, that it was found necessary to form them into a society by statute. As to the European names of coffee; they are all, observes Mr. Crawfurd, from the same source, the old Arabic word for wine, kahwab, which is composed of a very guttural k, un- pronounceable by Europeans, except by an awkward effort, of the labial w, and of two short vowels a, with an aspirate at the end of each syllable. The Turks have changed the labial w into v, and the European nations, who took the word directly from them, have corrupted the word by converting the labial v into the labial f, by substituting an ordinary k or hard c for the Arabic guttural, by omitting both the aspi- rates, and by converting the last short a into e, or as with ourselves, always the greatest corruptors of orthography, changing both the vowels. The Mahomedans distinguish three kinds of kahwah — wine, or anything that inebriates ; the extract from the pulp which contains the coffee-berry ; and that from the berry itself. The 'deep brown colour of the liquor occasioned its being called the syrup of the Indian mulberry, under which specious name it first became fashionable in Europe ; and some who imported the pulp called it the " flower of the coffee-tree," but it failed in use. Coffee is used in vast quan- tities by the Turks and Arabians, and with peculiar propriety, as it counteracts the narcotic effects of opium, vto the use of which they are so much addicted. The history of the cultivation of coffee by European nations in their colonies is singular. The old Dutch East India Company carried on some traffic with the Arabian ports in the Red Sea; and about the year 1690, the Dutch 11 Governor- General of India, Van Hoorne, caused some ripe coffee-seeds to be brought to Java ; they were planted, grew, and produced fruit. He sent a single plant home from Batavia to Nicholas Witsen, the Governor of the East India Company, which arrived safe, was planted in the Botanic Gardens of Amsterdam, where it prospered, produced fruit, and the fruit young plants. From the Amsterdam garden plants were sent to the Dutch colony of Surinam, and the planters entered on the cultivation of coffee in 1718. The authority for this is the celebrated physician and botanist, Boerhaave, in his Index of the Leyden Garden. In ten years after its cultivation in Surinam it was introduced from that colony by the English into Jamaica. It was sent to Martinique from France in 1720. The first coffee-plant cul- tivated in Brazil, now the greatest producing country in the world, was reared by a Franciscan monk, of the name of Vellosa, in the garden of the convent of San Antonio, near Bio Janeiro ; it throve, and the monk presented its ripe fruit to the .viceroy, Lavrado. He judiciously distributed it to the planters, who commenced its cultivation in 1774. From Java the coffee-plant was conveyed to Sumatra, to Celebes, to the Philippines, and in our own times to Malabar, Mysore, and Ceylon. The few coffee-berries brought from Mocha to Batavia are the parents of the vast quantity now produced, all the coffee now consumed (exceeding 500,000,000 Ibs.), save the trifle yielded by Arabia, has the same origin, and the great cultivation and commerce in coffee has all sprung up in less than one hundred and seventy-five years. SECTION III. PKODUCTION AND SUPPLY. THE changes in the sources of supply of coffee within the last quarter of a century are very remarkable. The British possessions in the East, where land and labour is cheap, have taken the place which our Western possessions formerly oc- cupied. The British West India Islands and Demerara have fallen off in their production of coffee from 30.000,000 Ibs. to 4,000,000 Ibs. San Domingo, Cuba, and the French West India colonies are also gradually giving up coffee cul- ture in favour of other staples. It is chiefly Brazil, some of the Central American republics, Java, Ceylon, and British India, that are able to render coffee a profitable crop. At the close of the last century the consumption of coffee was under one million pounds ; the only descriptions then known in the London market were Grenada, Jamaica, and Mocha — the two former averaging about 5Z. per cwt., and the latter 20Z. per cwt. Grenada coffee is now unknown, and Ceylon, Java, and Brazil are the largest producers. In 1760 the total quantity of coffee consumed in the United Kingdom was 262,000 Ibs., or three-quarters of an ounce to each person in the population. From 1801 to 1804 the average quantity of coffee con- sumed by each individual of the population was only about loz., whilst 1-^lbs. of tea per head was used. From 1805 to 1809 the consumption of coffee was 3 oz. per head. From 1810 to 1824, when the duty was reduced by about one- 13 third, the consumption was 8 oz. After this, when the duty on British-grown coffee was further reduced to 9d. and 6d. the pound, the consumption rose to lib., and by 1850 to 1J Ibs. But this consumption was not uniform for the United Kingdom, for while in England 1 Ib. 12 oz. was used, in Scotland only 6 oz. were consumed, and in Ireland but 2 oz. The quantities of coffee consumed in Great Britain in each decennial period, comparing the consumption with the growth of the population, and exhibiting the influence of high and low duties, are shown by the following statement. The figures up to 1841 are from Porter's " Progress of the Nation." Those since are computed from official documents : No. of Ibs. con- sumed. Duty on B.P. coffee. Population of Great Britain. Average consumption. s. d. Ibs. oz. 1801. 750,000 1 6 10,942,646 0 1-09 1811. 6,390,122 0 7 12,596,803 0 8-12 1821. 7,327,283 1 0 14,391,631 0 8-01 1831. 21,862,264 0 6 16,262,301 1 5-49 1841. 27,298,322 0 6 18,532,335 1 7-55 .1851. 32,504,545 0 3 21,000,000 1 4-98 1861. 35,204,040 0 3 23,266,755 1 1-33 It appears from the foregoing figures, that, when- the duty amounted to Is. 6d. per Ib., the use of coffee was confined altogether to the rich. The quantity then used throughout the kingdom scarcely exceeded on the average one ounce for each inhabitant in the year. Although about a quarter of a century ago the average consumption rose to nearly 1J Ib., it has since been gradually declining, for last year (1863) the total consumption was, with an increased population, 2£ million pounds below the quantity taken for consumption in 1861. The following table shows the changes in our sources of 14 supply of coffee even in the last ten years, taking the quan tities entered for consumption only. COFFEE TAKEN FOR CONSUMPTION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 1853. 1862. Ibs. Ibs. British India (including Ceylon)... 24,980,375 ... 5,422,369 Ceylon ...'. — ... 23,886,007 British West Indies and Guiana... 2,742,913 . . 2,380,683 Central America 4,948,848 .. 2,087,638 Brazil 814,133 . . 280,837 Venezuela 1,033,071 . . Hayti 862,254 . . 20,701 Java 112,892 . . Holland, &c 442,863 . . 8,862 Egypt 112,360 . . 90,932 United States 112,673 .. 30,476 New Granada — .. 133,144 Chili 379,930 .. Mauritius 61,884 . . — Portugal — . . 23,052 Philippine Islands — ... 82,820 Other parts 487,574 ... 216,650 37,091,770 34,664.135 Exported on drawback 108,648 ... 212,369 36,983,122 34,451,766 There is imported into Europe annually about 270,000,000 pounds of coffee, of which Prance consumes one-sixth, the consumption there having increased fully fifty per cent, within a very brief period. SECTION IT. COMMEECIAL VAKIETIES OF COFFEE. THE coffee-berry of Cayenne is rather convex, irregular, of a dull green, covered with a slight pellicle. It is analogous to Mocha, and of a pleasant aromatic flavour. That of G-uadaloupe is elongated, larger, of a dark greyish green, and nearly always without any pellicle. The coffee-berry of Martinique is also large, oval, flat on one side, with the furrow deep and straight for the greater part of its length, but diverging at the ends. Its odour is agreeable, and the flavour strong when used alone, but it is generally mixed with Mocha. The Mocha berry is very variable in form, size, and colour, but it is generally more round or compressed than other coffees; its odour is strong and agreeable, and very cha- racteristic. Many of the seeds are often covered by the endocarp, while others are without the pellicle. A great number also are rounded, and the involuted edges form a deep furrow, differing from the ordinary one. The form of these seeds is due to the abortion of the other half of the fruit, which gives it this particular formation. Aden, alias Mocha, coffee is, along with the other coffees of the Eed Sea, sent first to Bombay in Arab ships, where it is "garbelled" (picked), previously to its being exported to England. The bean is always broad and small, and the climate of India is supposed to improve its flavour. The seed of the Berbera (Abyssinian) plant is usually called long- berried Mocha. 16 The Java and East Indian, next in quality, are larger, and' of a paler yellow. The Ceylon berries are of irregular sizes, ill-shaped, and of a spotted dirty cream-colour. The terms " Plantation" and " Native" coffees, as applied to Ceylon berries, are distinctions arising from one being the cultivated coffee of the estates of the planters, which are better attended to and prepared for market, while the other is that grown in a wild or careless manner by the natives about their dwellings, and more rudely prepared. Java coffee is chiefly prized in the market for its delicacy of flavour, but in point of strength it falls short of the West Indian. Of Bourbon coffee there are in commerce two qualities, fine and ordinary. The first is in small seeds, well selected for size, of a variable colour, yellow or green, with little pellicle, the furrow slightly indented, and it has a sweet odour. The second is badly assorted as regards form and colour, and its odour less agreeable. The Jamaica coffee-berry is medium-sized, of a greenish blue colour, rather oblong, and smooth to the touch. It has a strong, agreeable smell, and excellent flavour, and when carefully picked and sorted, fetches about the highest price X°f any kind. ^ Porto Bico is a middle-sized coffee, of a pure and agreeable flavour ; the colour of the better sorts is a bluish green ; and of the common, yellow. The West Indian and Brazilian coffees have a bluish or greenish-grey tint. This grey-green shade of the Western coffees is entirely deficient in those of Asia. The value of the berry in our wholesale markets is not, therefore, a ficti- tious quality, as some imagine, but is real, and depends first upon the texture and form of the berry or seed, secondly on the colour, and thirdly the flavour. The texture of the berry and form, termed " style" by the coffee brokers, is so well defined and palpable to the initiated, that at one view they pronounce its value, from one per cwt. downwards, according to the two other qualities, colour and flavour. The value of the coffees usually imported into this country stands in the following order : Mocha, fine Ceylon Planta- tion, Jamaica, Costa Eica, Java, Tellicherry, and St. Domingo. Portugal produces coffee in several of her colonies. Ordinary description, yellowish berry, in St. Thomas; tolerably good in the Cape de Yerdes ; bad, yellow, in Timor ; worse (but curious from the very small size of the berry), growing wild, in Mozambique ; good in Angola ; and of ex- cellent quality in Madeira and Porto Santo, but the produc- tion is limited. Much of the coffee which finds its way into England as genuine Mocha is, in reality, Malabar coffee, sent to ports of the Persian G-ulf from Bourbon, and when thus naturalised, finding its way to Europe. But the coffee of India even now competes successfully with that of Arabia, in Bussorah, and other local markets, which the latter had for centuries com- manded as its own. It is curious to watch the progress of English enterprise. The energetic and ubiquitous Anglo-Saxons hold India, and here we see coffee from India triumphing over the famous berry of Arabia. The cultivation of tea also is rapidly spreading over 30,000 square miles of the Sub-Himalayan ranges; and who knows but that Indian teas may yet compete with those of the flowery land in the markets of Shanghae ? Already the Assam teas are held in high estimation by good judges of tea in this country, whilst they fetch a high price in India for local consumption. The colour of the berry is by no means a decisive criterion of excellence of quality ; in some parts the bluish berry is c 18 esteemed most highly, in others the yellow. The "West Indian coffees often change colour when kept a few years. It is well known that the various sorts of coffee imported into Europe from the several parts where the plant is culti- vated differ widely in quality and flavour. Levantine or Mocha still retains its old superiority in this respect, though the best sorts imported from Ceylon, Bourbon, Mauritius, and other Indian Islands are now generally considered to come very near it. This difference in quality and flavour of the various sorts of coffee is generally attributed to climatic and local causes and influences, which are necessarily beyond the power of remedy. This, however, is a great mistake. The more or less advanced state of maturity to which the berry is allowed to attain before picking, and, more particularly still, the degree of dryness, and the longer or shorter period of time for which it is kept before being sent into the market, exercise a most powerful influence upon the quality and flavour of the article. Berries gathered before they have at- tained maturity, though they may be perfect in colour, will always have a raw, herbaceous taste. If the drying berries are heaped too thickly or closely, they are apt to heat and to contract an unpleasantly bitter and harsh taste, and a dis- agreeable smell ; this will frequently occur also where artificial heat is had recourse to to expedite the drying. Keeping tends to cure these serious defects in coffee. There are instances on record where coffee of a most disagreeable flavour and smell has been brought near perfection by being kept for some years in a dry loft y and though it may be going too far to assert, as has been^done by some high authorities on the subject, that " the worst coffee produced in the West Indies will, in a course of years not exceeding ten or fourteen, be as good, parch and mix as well, and have as high a flavour as the best we have now from Turkey," still there can be no doubt that long keeping will most materially improve the quality of 19 even the worst sorts. Unfortunately, the difference of price between inferior and superior coffee is not sufficiently great to cover so many years' interest on the capital invested. It is for the same reason that planters, though they are perfectly aware that trees growing on a light soil, and in dry and elevated spots, produce smaller berries of very superior flavour to those grown in rich, flat, and moist soils, yet prefer cultivating the latter, simply because the production is double that of the better sort. Those who wish to improve the quality of their coffees by keeping, must bear in mind that perfect dryness of the loft or warehouse, moderate warmth, and gentle venti- lation are the indispensable conditions of success ; a strong draught of air is more particularly to be guarded against, as it tends to bleach the berries. Great care must be taken, also, to keep all strong- flavoured wares, such as pepper, pimento, ginger, cod-fish, herrings, rum, &c., as far as possible from the coffee, which has a powerful attraction for these scents, and gets thoroughly impregnated with them, to the great deterioration, of course, of its quality. This remark applies more particularly to the shipping of coffee from Jamaica and the other ~V\rest India Islands. Want of proper ventilation in the holds in which a cargo of coffee is stowed on board ship, is equally injurious to the quality of the article. Coffee which has suffered damage by sea-water, or has been spoiled by the close vicinity of strong-scented wares, may, to some extent, be reclaimed by " rouncing" or putting it in a tub, pouring boiling water over it, stirring for a few minutes, then pouring the water off, repeating the same operation a second, or even a third time, if necessary, and most carefully drying the washed berries. c 2 SECTION V. 4 CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. COFFEE has been analysed by several chemists, and though the results obtained differ in some slight degree, yet it seems pretty clear that the principal constituents to which its hygienic and medicinal properties are due are caffeine, a peculiar volatile oil generated in the roasting, and a kind of tannic acid. The alkaloid caffeine, or theine, is found in one or two other plants besides tea and coffee. It occurs in the seeds of Paullinia sorlilis, a native of Brazil, and in the leaves of several species of holly, natives of South America, which furnish the Paraguay tea, or Terba mate, so large an article of consumption in several of the South American republics. The leaves and young shoots, dried, parched, and pulve- rised, are used for a hot infusion. A kind of cake, called Gruarana bread, is made from the seeds of the Paullinia , which is highly esteemed in Brazil and other countries when infused, like chocolate, for its nutritive and febrifuge pro- perties, and is sold generally as a necessary for travellers, and as a cure for many diseases. The nutritive and medicinal virtues of all these plants must certainly be attributed in a great degree to the presence of this chemical principle, and to the tannic acid which they also contain. The use of coffee as a beverage has been examined in a chemical and physiological point of view by Professor Lehmann. The general results of his investigations are : 21 1. That a decoction of coffee exercises two principal actions upon the organism, which are very diverse in cha- racter, viz. increasing the activity of the vascular aod nervous system, while at the same time it retards the meta- morphosis of plastic constituents. 2. That the influence of coffee upon the vascular and nervous system, its reinvigorating action, and the production of a general sense of cheerfulness and animation, is attrir butable solely to the mutual modification of the specific action of the empyreumatic oil and the caffeine contained in it. 3. That the retardation of the assimilative process brought about by the use of coffee is owing chiefly to the empyreu- matic oil, and is caused by caffeine only when taken in large quantities. 4. That increased action of the heart, trembling, head- ache, &c., are effects of the caffeine. 5. That the increased activity of the kidneys, relaxation of the bowels, and an increased vigour of mental faculties, passing into congestion, restlessness, and inability to sleep, are effects of the empyreumatic oil.^- Professor Lehmann considers it, therefore, necessary to regard the action of coffee, and, in a less degree, that of tea, cocoa, alcohol, &c., upon the organism, as constituting an ex- ception to the general law, that increased bodily and mental activity involves increased consumption of plastic material. Caffeine, on careful analysis, has been found to contain in 100 parts, 49-80 of carbon, 5'08 of hydrogen, 28'83 of nitrogen, and 16'29 of oxygen. It is inodorous, but has a slightly bitter taste. The proportion in which this principle is found to be present in coffee varies between jib. and If Ibs. in 100 Ibs. of berries. The peculiar essential oil which is generated in coffee in the process of roasting, by the action of heat upon some yet unascertained principle contained in the berry, is also very 22 similar to the volatile oil in tea ; but the quantity of it in coffee appears to be comparatively very small ; for whilst 100 Ibs. of tea-leaves contain 1 Ib. of volatile oil, it takes 500 cwts. of roasted coffee to give a similar quantity ; and yet it is upon the presence of this oil that the flavour and value of the several varieties of coffee mainly depend. The tannic acid is, by some chemists, also said to be gene- rated only in the process of roasting ; others maintain that it is present in the raw bean. The chemical properties of the coffee-berry are altered by roasting, and it loses about twenty per cent, of weight, but increases in bulk one-third or one-half. Its peculiar aroma, and some of its other properties, are due to a small quantity of essential oil, only one five-thousandth part of its weight, which would be worth about 100Z. an ounce in a separate state. Coffee is less rich in theine than tea, but contains more sugar and a good deal of cheese (casein). Schrader has analysed raw and roasted coffee, with the following result : raw. roasted. Peculiar coffee principle . . 17*58 . ... 12-50 Gum and mucilage , ., r . 3'64 •..»... 10-42 Extractive .... 0'62 . 4.80 Eesin 0-411 Fatty oil 0'52 J Solid residue . . . . 66-66 , 6875 Loss 10-57 1-45 100-00 " The examination of coffee," observes Dr. P. Knapp, " has led to interesting results, although they are still defective in pointing out the quantitative composition of the berry." The following is the composition of the ash according to Levi: 23 Potash v's ,;^ . . . 50-94 Soda .... . . . 14-76 Lime . «... . . . 4*33 Magnesia . . . '. .". 10'GO Oxide of iron .... 0'66 Phosphoric acid . . . . 13*59 Sulphuric acid . ... . trace Chlorine . *t .; - . ; V . 1'22 Silicic acid. . - . ' '.' 3'58 99-98 According to the analysis of Payen, the unroasted coffee- berry has the following composition : Moisture 12'0 Glucose and dextrine 15'5 Nitrogenous matters . . . . . 13'0 Chlorogenate of caffeine, &c. . . 3'5 to 5-8 Patty substances . . . 10 to 13' 0 Cellulose and woody fibre . . . . 34'0 Mineral substances in ash . . . . 6'7 Essential oil . . . . . -003 100-0 Or to define the per-centage more closely, we may put it thus : Water 12'000 Caffeine, or theme ... . . 1'750 Casein . . . . . , 13'000 Aromatic oil . . . . . 0'002 Sugar . 6-500 Gum 9-000 Eat 12-000 Potash, wi-th a peculiar acid . . . 4'000 "Woody fibre . . . . . . 35'048 Mineral matter 6'700 100-000 24 In another form this shows us : Water 12.00 Flesh-formers 1475 Heat-givers 66 -25 Mineral matter 7'00 100-00 As gluten is only very sparingly soluble in boiling water, in the usual way of making coffee the flesh-formers are thrown away with the dregs ; the addition of a little soda to the water partly prevents this waste. The various components in one pound of coffee will be — oz. grs. Water 1 407 Caffeine, or theine 122 Casein, or cheese . . . . . 2 35 Aromatic oil . . . . 1J Gum . . . . . . . 1 192 Sugar -,.. .• ; -. : . . .' . 1 17 Fat • . •- . • , ; , • ... . . 1 402 Potash . • . ... . . 280 Woody fibre . . . . .' ... 5 262 Mineral matter . . . • . . . 1 31 The part roasted is the albumen, which is of a hard, horny consistence ; and Lindley remarks that it is probable that the seeds of other plants of this or the stellate order, whose albumen is of the same texture, would serve as a substitute. This would not be the case with those with fleshy albumen. Coffee loses in weight by roasting, but gains in bulk in proportion to the heat applied. Pay en found the following amount of nitrogen in 100 parts dried : nitrogen. ash. Martinique . . 2 '46 . 5 '00 Bourbon . . . 2-54 . 4'66 Mocha . . . 2-49 . 7'84 The coffee from Martinique lost 1T5S per cent, of its weight by drying. This description of coffee also afforded the following results : Unroasted. Slightly reddened. Chesnut brown. Brown. Loss in roasting . . 40 per cent. 48-5 „ 15 per cent. 1-3 times 37 per cent. 20 per cent. 1-53 times 37-1 per ct. 25 per cent. 39 -25 per ct. Increase in bulk Extract Insoluble residue Coffee, as ordinarily prepared for beverage, contains only two-sevenths of the nitrogenous or nutritive matter of the fresh bean, but two-thirds of the roasted, and the mineral ingredients are all present. M. Lebreton (" Agriculteur praticien") has estimated the loss of weight of coffee in roasting at 18 to 20 per cent, in Porto Eico, Eio, and Martinique coffee ; and at 16 to 18 per cent, in Malabar, Bourbon, Ceylon, and Guadaloupe coffees ; while in Mocha coffee it amounts to only 14 or 16. The loss of weight depends upon the time of roasting and the degree of heat. Damp or damaged coffee loses more than dry sound coffee. He considers that these substances have the capa- bility of rendering the individual insensible of a certain defi- ciency of food, in virtue of their retardation of the assimila- tive process. He thinks it probable, likewise, that these substances have a direct nutritive value, especially coffee as drank by the Turks and Arabs with the grounds. Professor Lehmann considers that the singular preference for one or other of these beverages by particular nations, as well as the Eastern custom of drinking coffee with the grounds, are not accidental, but have some deeper reason. This reason, he thinks, is to be found in the different effects of the coffee, tea, &c., and the various requirements of the nations by whom they are used, and instances the use of tea 2G by the English, and of coffee by the Germans and French, as in accordance with this view. The diet of the former affords a larger supply of plastic material than that of the latter people ; and while, consequently, the retardation of the assimilative process is an important influence for the G-erman, the proportionately greater nervous stimulus caused by tea is more desirable for the former. The use of coffee with its grounds has its analogue in the use of tea mixed with meal, milk, and butter among the Mongols, and other inha- bitants of the Central Asiatic steppes. M. Payen, from elaborate experiments, shows that coffee slightly roasted is that which contains the maximum of aroma, weight, and nutrition. He declares coffee to be very nourishing, as it contains a large quantity of nitrogen, three times as much nutriment as tea, and more than twice the nourishment of soup. Chicory contains only half the nutri- ment of coffee. SECTION VI. COFFEE-LEAF TEA, &c. ATTENTION was some time ago drawn to the subject of coffee-leaf tea, which is used in Sumatra and other parts of the East, and a good deal of discussion ensued upon the matter, after the leaves were shown for the purpose at the International Exhibition of 1851. An infusion of roasted coffee-leaves is pronounced by those who have had an oppor- tunity of tasting it, as superior to Bohea, and by some en- thusiastic admirers is said to rival the flavour of the most delicate Pekoe. That an infusion of roasted coffee-leaves should imitate the flavour of tea is not to be wondered at, as the leaves of both shrubs contain in the main the same leading principles, more particularly theine or caffeine. There is no doubt that coffee-leaf tea would command a sale in England, but the question is how much could be collected to make it profitable, and it involves the necessity of apparatus and skilled labour for parching the leaves. Coffee-leaves are not quite so thick as those of Vallam- brosa, and a Malabar coolie would not in one day collect enough to pay the expense of picking, drying, packing, cartage, warehouse rent, freight, and other charges. Moreover, no planter of any experience would think of stripping his trees of their breathing organs, and the quan- tity that might be collected from the suckers and prunings, &c., would never give more than a few bales, even on large plantations. Even were the fallen leaves supposed to be available, their removal would be as detrimental as the prac- 28 tice of raking away withered leaves in plantations, or the ap- plication of the sugar-cane trash to the purposes of fuel. The husks, pulp, and parchment in South America, the "West Indies, Ceylon, and the other Indian islands, are re- garded as mere waste, and thrown away. In Arabia and some parts of the East, however, this refuse is utilised, as the " miserables," or husks of the cocoa-seed (Tlieolroma cacao), are in Ireland and the Continent. With it is prepared the famous kisher, or " Cafe a la Sultane," a light-coloured, bright infusion, which has all the agreeable flavour of eofiee, with little of its strength and none of its bitterness ; this is partaken of by the humbler classes in incredible quantities. "When quite dry and ripe these husks are bruised, and roasted in an earthen vessel over a charcoal fire, not as cofiee usually is, but only until it assumes a light-brown colour. While hot it is thrown into a pot of boiling water, with a small proportion of the pellicle or parchment skin ; all is boiled together for a few minutes, and then served hot and strong, but without sugar. Sometimes a drop of essence of amber is put into each cup ; or cloves, aniseed, or cardamoms are boiled with it. In Brazil, from the sweet pulp which envelopes the berry an excellent spirit has been made. SECTION VII. ADULTERANTS. GEEA.T as tbe consumption of coffee is in Europe and the Americas, it lias become so necessary in every household, that the demand continues to increase, and very full prices are maintained. The largely extended plantations in Brazil, in Ceylon, in India, in Java, and in other suitable localities, profitably opened up every day, altogether fail to keep down prices, and will long continue to offer the strong inducement of large profits ! Taking advantage of this great public want, the unscru- pulous and fraudulent trader foists upon the easily-duped masses of consumers vast quantities of unwholesome and pernicious stuff, mixed in certain proportions with coffee; and, although the law has interposed in the case of chicory, forbidding, under penalties, its being sold mixed with coffee, unless especially so. labelled and declared, yet who can tell the thousand and one mixtures that are still made and sold with it ? It may be said that all this can be prevented by purchas- ing only unground coffee, in a roasted state; ready for grind- ing; but there are those (to be reckoned by hundreds of thousands of families) who, having no means of grinding this roasted coffee, are compelled to buy that which is already ground, or go without altogether. "What abominations do these (in too many cases) not drink, then, under the much abused name of coffee ? These reflections are forced upon my mind every time I enter a coffee-house, and am called to put faith in the purity of the cup of coffee set before me. Visitors to the establishments of coffee-grinders speak of 30 bags of the husks of peas, and cobs of Indian corn, wheat, sea-biscuits, and other articles, harmless enough in them- selves, and in their right places, where, indeed, they may be useful ; but a coffee-mill is the wrong place for these otherwise objectionable articles of consumption. It will not be denied that the husks of peas or the cobs of maize are appropriately placed in the trough from which our pigs feed; they will even add to the delicacy and whiteness of the pork those very useful animals are intended to yield us, but they are essentially out of place in our coffee-cup. These, and various other articles, go to make what in the trade is termed " Boston," and this preparation the visitor, who has been admitted to the arcana of the grinder, will find mixed in a large bin ready for use. One who has been thus favoured, after describing the mill used for grinding the coffee, speaks of another machine, called the " mixer." The " mixer" is a wooden cylinder revolving on a spindle at an angle of 45°, and having internal arrangements to mix the coffee with such proportion of adulterating material as the ingenuity or impudence of the grinder may suggest. Here, like Macbeth's witches over their cauldron, presides the genius of the place, who casts in the ingredients which con- stitute the villanous compound, which, done up in tins, is finally ornamented with labels such as this : FINEST PLANTATION COFFEE, Eoasted and ground on the most approved principle by STEAM MACHINERY. This coffee is with confidence highly recommended to the public, as the fine aroma, so much appreciated, is entirely preserved by its being PACKED FRESH FROM THE MILL. "We need scarcely say that the amount of nourishment contained in this abominable olio is infinitesimally small. The Scientific American of New York, of a recent date, records the following fact : " The editor of the Baltimore American lately visited the commissary department of one 31 of the large military hospitals, and noticed several barrels of dried coffee grounds, the purpose whereof excited his curiosity. The polite commissary informed him that they received twelve dollars a barrel for the grounds. ' But what is it purchased for ?' he asked. ' Well,' said the commissary, hesitatingly, ' it is re-aromatised by the transforming hand of modern chemistry, and put up in pound papers, which are decorated with attractive labels and high-sounding names.' " About ten years ago, when the question of coffee adultera« tion was much agitated, I published a little treatise, entitled, " Coffee, as it is and as it ought to be," in which, among other particulars, I pointed out the various sophistications prac- tised. A compositor who was engaged in printing the work furnished me with a remarkable statement in confirmation of reports which I had previously heard. He stated that in various parts of the metropolis, but more especially in the east, are to be found liver bakers. These men take the livers of oxen and horses, bake them, and grind them into a powder, which they sell to the low-priced coffee- shop keepers, at from 4d. to 6d. per pound ; horse -liver coffee bearing the highest price. This adulterant may be known by allowing the coffee to stand until cold, when a thick pellicle or skin will be found on the top. It goes farther than coffee, and is generally mixed with chicory and other vegetable imitations of coffee. According to the investigations of Dr. Hassall (" Eood and its Adulterations"), the several adulterations of coffee maybe distinguished by the following characters : Chicory, by the size, form, and ready separation of the component cells of the root, as well as by the presence of an abundance of spiral vessels of the dotted form. Roasted corn, by the size, form, and other characters of the starch granules, of which the grains are principally com- posed. Beans, also, by the form, &c., of the constituent granules of starch. Potato, by the large size, rounded form, 32 and ready separation of the cells of the cellulose, as well as by the fibrous markings on their surfaces. Plate 3 shows a fragment of roasted coffee as seen under the microscope, magnified 140 diameters, and the structures in a sample of coffee adulterated with chicory. Dr. Normandy, in his evidence before the Parliamentary Committee on the Adulteration of Food, &c., stated that he had met with roasted corn in coffee to an extent of from 25 to 30 per cent ; it is recognised by the size and character of the starch granules ; consists of barley and rye, and is generally very easy to detect ; it floats up. If coffee has been adulterated with roasted grain, when you pour boiling water upon it you will see rising against the sides of the cup portions of the ground grain, which you sometimes can sepa- rate in considerable quantities, by capillary attraction. If you pour such coffee from the coffee-pot, some of those grains will fall with the liquid in the cup, and they will climb up, as it were, the sides of the cup a quarter of an inch, or something of that kind, all round, and you can collect them very easily. Dr. E. D. Thompson, F.H.S., another witness, stated that a large cargo of lupins from Egypt having been imported, which could not be made any use of in consequence of their bitter taste, he was asked to give a certificate in favour of their being equal to coffee, but declined, and recommended that, after steeping, to remove the bitter principle, they should be sold for cattle. He also added that he had seen an in- genious apparatus for making artificial coffee-berries from chicory and other substances ; it was something like a bullet- mould, and patented by Messrs. Duckworth of Liverpool. The chicory itself sold is not always pure. The Board of Inland Revenue have found, on chemical examination in dif- ferent samples, beans, rye, oats (roasted and ground), caramel or burnt sugar, oxide of iron and orange berries. The principle contained in coffee, remarks Dr. Letheby, may be considered as essential to life, inasmuch as all nations Plate 3. Genuine Ground Coffee. Coffee Adulterated with Chicory 33 use it ; it prevents the wear and tear of the body. Now there is nothing in chicory which can do that. Chemically there is no difference between beetroot chicory and what is called real chicory; microscopically you can discover the difference. If genuine coffee is sprinkled upon the surface of a tumbler of water, it remains a considerable time float- ing, and when it sinks it only slightly colours the water; chicory, on the other hand, sinks quickly, and colours the water very deeply. Ground coffee is enveloped in an oily substance, which prevents the water absorbing ; chicory has no such protection, and sinks immediately. Mr. Phillips, the chemist to the Inland Board of Eevenue, states that the average per-centage of chicory to coffee, when sold mixed, was found to range from 20J to 16f per cent. At a recent meeting of the British Association of Science, Mr. Horsley called attention to the use of bi-chromate of potash, in analysing adulterated samples of coffee. With diluted solutions of pure coffee, this salt produces an intense deep porter-brown coloration, whilst upon decoctions of chicory no effect is produced. He advised the following pro- cedure : Take equal parts of chicory and coffee, and decocfc them in different quantities of water. Filter, bottle, and label the liquids. Take a teaspoonful of the chicory, and dilute till it is of a brown sherry colour ; boil it in a porcelain dish, with a fragment of crystallised bi-chrome. The colour will be scarcely deepened. If a similarly diluted solution of coffee is thus treated, a deep-brown tinge is obtained. By operating with mixed liquids a scale of colours may be obtained indicating the properties of the two substances. If a few grains of the sulphate of copper be added, both decoc- tions yield a precipitate; that from chicory being a clay yellow, and that from coffee a sepia brown. Mixed decoc- tions yield intermediate tints. SECTION VIII. CULTURE IN" THE WEST INDIES AND AMERICA. Itf 1720, a small coffee-plant, raised in the garden of the King at Paris, was transported to the Antilles by Captain Declieux, who, during a long passage, shared each day his small allowance of water with the young coffee plant. From this tree have sprung all those since cultivated in Martinique, Q-uadaloupe, Cayenne, St. Domingo, and the other islands. The fall of St. Domingo, in 1789, which formerly furnished 80,000,000 Ibs., the disfavour the culture has fallen into in Martinique and G-uadaloupe islands, which used to supply 16,000,000 or 17,000,000 Ibs., together with the greater at- tention given to sugar cultivation in the West Indies, have transferred the production of coffee chiefly to Brazil, Ceylon, and Java. In 1801, 526,000 cwts. of coffee were imported into Great Britain from the West Indies, and the average annual im- ports in the six years ending 1806 was 364,000 cwts. The decrease of production is shown by the following figures : 1829. 1850. 1860. Jamaica, Ibs. 18 690 654 Ibs. 4 196 210 Ibs. 6 145 362 7,163,016 18,472 Trinidad 73 667 96,376 Dominica 942,114 792 10 000 St. Lucia 303 499 39 JAMAICA. — The coffee-plant is said to have "been first in- troduced into Jamaica by Sir Nicholas Lawes, in 1728, when 35 it was cultivated on an estate called Temple Hall, on the plains of Liguanea, not far from Kingston. In 1752, 6,000,000 Ibs. of coffee were exported, and in the three years ending 1807, the average annual shipment was 28,500,000 Ibs. It was not until the island trade was injured by the dismemberment of Honduras that the heavy duties on sugar, and the competi- tion of the French colonies, induced the industrious planters to turn their attention to coffee. They then petitioned for a protecting bounty, and for a considerable time this wa& the only British colony where its cultivation was much at- tended to. In 1791 there were 607 coffee-plantations in the island, with 21,000 negroes employed on them. In 1844r there were 671 plantations, and it was calculated that 20,000,0002. sterling was invested in them. Some of the finest and most productive plantations were at an elevation of 4700 feet, in the vicinity of the Blue Mountain Peak. Whilst in 1809, 83,250,000 Ibs. of coffee were shipped from Jamaica, the average export for ten years past has not ex- ceeded 6,000,000 Ibs. In the "West Indies and Central America a nursery of young plants is usually raised from seed. At the age of six months these are transplanted into the field in squares of 8 to 9 feet apart. Beyond keeping the field clear of weeds, giving the plants a slight moulding, and freeing them of suckers or sprouts, they do not require any other attention for the first three years. At the expiry of this time they commence to bear fruit, and the coffee is cured either by drying the entire fruit in the sun, or by passing the fruit through what is called a pulping mill, which separates the outer pulp or covering from the beans. The beans are then subjected to a washing in a tank full of water, in order to remove the glutinous substance which adheres to them ; this causes them to cure or dry more rapidly. They are then left in what ig called the parchment husk, and exposed to the D2 36 action of the sun on platforms laid with tiles, until they are perfectly dried, and from this they are, during crop time, spread on the wooden floors of a building called a logie, to the depth, in a heavy crop, of 12 to 18 inches. Whilst thus spread, great attention is necessary to prevent the coffee getting heated and its colour destroyed, by constantly turn- ing it up, and by the use of some dry lime or ashes sprinkled over it. After this the beans are subjected to the operation of what is called a stamping mill, which separates the parch- ment husk from the beans. This stamping mill is merely two large solid wheels fixed on each end of a beam on an axle, and worked by mules moving round in a circle — the wooden wheels working in a circular trough filled with the coffee beans. After this the whole are submitted to the action of a winnowing machine, which separates the chaff from the beans, and subsequently the beans are passed through copper sieves to separate the perfect from the broken coffee, and finally handpicked and put into bags or casks for shipment. BRITISH GUIANA. — Coffee was for a length of time almost the only staple of Berbice and Demerara, but the cultivation of the sugar-cane has been substituted for it. The quantity of coffee, the produce of British Guiana, exported in 1830 was, 9,472,756 Ibs. ; in 1840, 3,357,300 Ibs. ; in 1849, 100.550 Ibs. ; and in 1850, 30,000 Ibs. ; since which it has almost ceased to be exported, scarcely sufficient being pro- duced to supply thevdemand in the colony. At one time there were about two hundred coffee planta- tions in the small island of DOMINICA, and four to five million of pounds of coffee were exported annually to Great Britain. PORTO Rico. — In proportion to its extent, this island is twice as productive as Cuba, and the quality of its coffee and other produce is of the highest class. There were, in 1862, fifty-three coffee plantations on the island, producing about 100,000 cwt. of coffee. The exports of coffee were, in 37 Ibs. 1855 ..- $!£ . 11,506,283 1856 '•. i 4