82 THE PLANT WORLD. 



all of the plants on the American continent are its descendants; this, 

 however, can hardly be true, for in 1718 scions were sent from Java 

 to Surinam. In order to keep the monopoly there, the inhabitants 

 were forbidden on pain of death to sell fresh berries to foreigners. 

 But a few seeds were at length smuggled into Cayenne, and thence the 

 tree was distributed through the French colonies. The extensive cul- 

 tivation of coti'ec in Brazil, amounting to seventy per cent of the world 

 production of 1,800,000,000 pounds, is largely due to the efforts of a 

 bishop of Rio Janeiro, who distributed the seed generously in the latter 

 part of the last century. The physician Isemberg brought plants to 

 the Antilles in 1716, and the Spaniards had begun to grow the trees in 

 their West Indian possessions by the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 and thirty years later cultivated them on the mainland. Coffee is said 

 to have reached San Domingo by means of wildfowl which carried the 

 seeds in their crops from the neighboring islands. Once introduced 

 the plant gained favor rapidl}^ everywhere, and now flourishes in many 

 of the South and Central American States where some of the most 

 highly esteemed grades are produced. In Mexico also the enterprise 

 improves from year to year. 



Long before the coming of the Dutch, the Cingalese grew coffee 

 near their temples, employing the flow^ers for the decoration of the 

 shrines. The tender leaves were also used for curries, but nothing was 

 known of the properties of the fruits. The Dutch began its cultivation 

 in 1820, and some of the varieties of Ceylon cofi'ee rank with the best. 

 The leaf parasite has, however, caused such havoc that within recent 

 years, many plantations have been abandoned or turned over to the tea 

 or sugar industry or to the culture of the Liberian sjjecies which is 

 more resistant to the disease. 



Coffee is also grown in the Philippines, in Bourbon, Madagascar, 

 Guinea, the Fiji, Friendly, Samoan and Hawaiian Islands and the other 

 groups of the Pacific; also in Queensland and other parts of Australia. 

 The soil and climate of Borneo are specially adapted to the Liberian 

 species, which is a lowland, warmth-loving plant. 



Coif'ea Arahica is a hiohland shrub or small tree fhrivino- at alti- 

 tudes one to six thousand feet al)ove the sea level. Th« leaves are 

 evergreen, the flowers clustered, short-pedicelled, white and very fra- 

 grant; the mature berries of a deep red color, and the outer pulpy 

 layer has a sweetish taste not at all like cofl'ee; the two hard seeds or 

 •'beans" are each enclosed in a tough coat technically known as the 



