The Plant World 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF POPULAR BOTANY. 



Vol. in. ' JUNE, 1900. No. 6, 



COFFEE GROWING AND DRINKING. 

 By Alice Carter Cook. 



THE Europeans learned the use of coffee in the seventeenth century 

 from the Turks and Aral)ians. It was, indeed, su|)i)()se(l to lie 

 a peculiarly Arab product and Linnaeus called the shrub 

 Cofff^a Ari(h/r(i. Botanical and historical research liave, however, 

 shown that the plant and the knowledge of its use were of African 

 orii2,in, and were introduced into Arabia in early jSIohamniedan times. 



As with all other successful novelties, conservative opposition was 

 aroused, and there was what might lie called an anti-coffee crusade in 

 the Moslem world. Some used the beverage to assist them to keep 

 awake durino; their midnioht devotions, while others considered these 

 l)ogus vigils offensive to Allah. In Europe laws and penalties were 

 enacted to check the "-rowth of the coff'ee habit, and eminent men con- 

 sidered it an e[)hemeral craze; I)ut it has continued to increase, and has 

 become almost co-extensive with civilization. 



The growing demand was not long supplied by Arabia, and the 

 tree, which can endure a great variety of climate, is now widely culti- 

 vated in the tropics. The first [)lant seen in Europe was sent from 

 Java, where coffee has ])een cultivated as a government mono[)oly since 

 1690, to the Botanic Garden of Amsterdam. Y'oung trees propagated 

 from this were distributed among the gardens and conservatories of the 

 continent. One presented to Louis XIV, by the magistrates of Am- 

 sterdam, was described as a species of Jasminium by Jussieu, 

 De Clieux. a French officer, took a cutting of this tree to Martinique, 

 sharini; with it his own scanty allowance of water during a lono- vovaoe. 

 It grew and prospered in the new home, and its numerous offspring were 

 scattered throughout this and the adjacent islands. Some even claim that 



