BRITISH COFFEE. 71 



from the pods when they are ripe/ and, if deposited in a dry 

 place, will keep well for a long time. 



This beautiful and ornamental plant is so productive of Te ry plentiful. 

 feeds, that I gathered more than a bushel of them in the 

 space of a few yards, by the side of an old river, in this 

 neighbourhood. 



The seeds of this plant, being roasted in the ssme man- When roasted 

 ner as coffee is treated, very much resemble it in colour and rf 01 C ° e a n l Ui,e " 

 flavour; but have something more of a saccharine odour ap- other substi* 

 proaching to that of the extract of liquorice. However, tute ' 

 when carefully prepared, they possess much more of the 

 aroma of coffee than is to be found in any, of the leguminous 

 and gramineous seeds, that have been treated in the same 

 manner. 



The government duty Upon coffee having been lately 

 taken off, this new product cannot at present be brought to 

 market as a lucrative article of commerce; yet I trust these 

 observations may prove of considerable advantage to those 

 persons, in whose vicinity the iris pseudacorus abounds. 



Some persons may perhaps object to the use of these seeds Not cathartic* 

 as here recommended, on account of the yellow water flag 

 being a medical plant, possessing so violent a purgative ef- 

 fect upon the human frame, as to render its administration 

 extremely unsafe. I readily grant, that the fresh root is a 

 very drastic cathartic; but I assert, that the other parts of 

 the plant do not possess the same virtues as the root ; and 

 that even the root itself, when perfectly dried, is one of the Even the root, 

 most powerful astringents, that this country produces, and w v^ n * d » att 

 is probably one of the most effectual remedies of this class, 

 that we can employ to remove a diarrhoea, or too great a 

 laxity of the bowels. Besides, I can speak positively from Used by the 

 my own experience, that the coffee from the seeds of the author, 

 yellow water flag is very wholesome and nutritious, in the 

 proportion of half an ounce, or an ounce, to a pint of boiling 

 water. 



And as far as a few experiments enable me to form an Has the che- 

 opinion, I expect, that this product will be found to possess " llcal P r0 P er - 

 most of the chemical as well as physical properties of the 

 foreign coffee. 



The phenomena which occur in roasting the seeds are 



