(50) 
at Surinam in 1718. This example was followed by the French at 
Cayenne, and in Martinico; nor were our Colonies neglected, for 
in 1732 it was cultivated in Jamaica, and patronized by ac of par- 
liament. | ; ae 
_, But whether from mifmanagement, or from caufes unavoidable, it 
is a lamentable truth, that our colonial coffee is of lefs eftimation than 
that of other ftates, and the Mocha coffee is fuperior to all others. © 
We fhall therefore prefent our readers with an account of the culture 
and management of Coffee, praGtifed in Arabia Felix, and related by 
La Roque, who fays, ‘‘ that the Coffee tree is there raifed from feed, 
*« which they fow in nurferies, and plant them out as they have 
- occafion. “They chufe for their plantations a moift fhady fituation, 
‘* on a {mall eminence, or at the foot of the mountains, and take 
‘< great care to conduét from the mountains little rills of water, in 
‘* {mall channels, to the roots of the trees; for it is abfolutely 
** neceflary that they fhould be conftantly watered, in order to pro= 
** duce and ripen the fruit. For that purpofe, when they remove or 
“* tran{plant the tree, they make a trench three feet wide, and five 
feet deep, which they line or cover with ftones, that the water may 
the more readily fink deep into the earth with which the trench is 
filled, in order to preferve the moifture from evaporating. When - 
they obierve that there is a good deal of fruit upon the tree, and 
that it is nearly ripe, they turn off the water from the roots, to 
leflen that fucculency in the fruit which too much moifture would 
occafion. In places,much expofed to the fouth they plant their 
Coffee trees in regular lines, fheltered by a kind of poplar tree,. 
which extends its branches on every fide toa great diftance, afford-" 
ing a neceflary fhade when the heat of the fun is teo intenfe. 
When they perceive the fruit advanced to maturity, they {pread- 
** cloths under the trees, which they fhake, and the ripe fruit readily 
** drops off. ‘They afterwards fpread the berries upon mats, and 
expofe them to the fun until they are perfeQly dry: after which. 
they break the hufk with large heavy rollers, made either with 
wood or ftone. When the Coffee is thus cleared of its hufk, it is 
again dried in the fun, and laftly winnowed with a large ifan.”’ * 
4 See La Roque. Voyage de } Arabic heureufe. Pp: 285. of which we have followed — 
> Ellis’s tranflation. = 
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