54« 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURlSf. [Feb. i, iSSy. 



Pleasant would it be to round off such a story of brave 

 expeiiment; and, let us add, monetary success, without 

 dropping a hint of care and embarrassment, but then 

 it would not be Africa. Nothing goes right in 

 Africa," is a proverb from Cape Town to Cairo, 

 and the L:ikts Company has its troubles. Ever 

 siuce Lord Palmer.'-ton's day the Portuguese have 

 ciidi avoured to claim evirythiug an.1 everybody situated 

 behind their seaboard o» the east coast, and so 

 across the continent to the western side of Africa — 

 a pretension which has been as often contested. It 

 will be seen that the country in which the company's 

 operations lie falls within this section. The recent 

 " scramble for Africa'' has made the dry bones of these 

 old disputes have their say. Germany has treated 

 them in her own off-hand way. It was enough, surely, 

 that poor Livingstone discovered with chagrin that he 

 had only been exploring for the purposes of convicts 

 and slavedealers at Senna, Mette, and Quillimane ; it 

 would be too much now to witness any attempt made 

 to nullify ibis true-hearted effort to emancipate the 

 natives from their wrongs, and the countrymen of 

 Livingstone must look to it and see that it does not 

 take shape to the detriment of the new industries. 



[We have the impression that the late British Consul, 

 Captain Moore, R.N., indented on Ceylon not only 

 for cinahona seed, but for coffee, and we can only hope 

 that the fungus was not carried with the coffee. — 

 Ed.] 



■ — » ■ --■ ' 



CUPS THAT CHEER. 



Botaiic beer can hardly be erased from the list 

 of our national beverages without a struggle. The 

 Exjise has lately declared against it, with the support 

 of the Courts, but surely some effort will be made 

 to reverse the judgment. We know nothing of the 

 compound more specially in question; and of "herb 

 beer" we cau say no more than that we believe it 

 to be well meant. It is understood to be teetotal in its 

 tendency, and in the nature of .a pious fraud. It has 

 something to the colour of the lighter beer, and well 

 shaken, it evolves a lather, which enthusiasm may 

 call a head. With a pipe of herb tobacco it com- 

 pletes the outfit of the blameless, iutent on "going 

 it " without a headache. It may be all very well, 

 yet, it ought uot to represent the final effort of in- 

 vention to improve the quality of our nou-iotoxicat- 

 ing drinks. There is no more reason why a certain 

 person should have all the nice beverages to him- 

 self thau why he should have all the nice tunes. 

 The coffee palaces are, no doubt, admirable institu- 

 tions, but the coffee they sell leaves much to be de- 

 sired. The sam« thing may be said of their tea. If 

 they only brewed with half the scientific care of the 

 brewer tliey might sooner drive him out of the 

 field. They would certainly confer a great boon on 

 all of us, for where they led, the kitchen might follow, 

 and in time we should have tea and coffee fit to 

 drink. As it is, people make both of these beverages 

 with an appalling lightness of heart. Some own . 

 to a sense of responsibility as to coffee, but it is a 

 common belief that anybody can make a cup of 

 good t>a. Sages have not been of that opinion. The 

 late Mr. vVyrton, who had better claims to that title 

 than it is now the fashion to admit, made tea as se- 

 riously as he audited a public balance-sheet. He had 

 thought it all out, as he had thought out Indian ad- 

 ministratiou. and the result was a certain solemnity of 

 preparation not unsuggestive of a Hindu rite. He made 

 tea with awe ; and those who denied him the quality 

 of reverence had never called on him in the afternoon. 

 He made only just as much tea as he wanted — no more 

 -and he had a rich variety of teapots to enable him 

 to take the measure of every need. He allowed the 

 ton to stand for five minutes, and then drank it all 

 up, or at least poured it all out, at once. It was de- 

 licious. If he could have made tea for Sir .1. Hooker 

 they might have been friends for ever. The poor man's 

 1 lip, an 1 especially the poor womtn's, often stews on 

 I he hob for hours, and it is really not much more 

 Ihan a decoction of tannic acid wJien all is doue 'J'ea 



should never be a decoction, but only an infusion. 

 Even the tea of the drawing-room usually stands too 

 long. The replenishing of the teapot with fresh water, 

 common both to the mansion and the cottage, is a 

 positive abuse of the gifts of nature. There can be 

 no good gossip on the stimulus of drink so made. 

 The finest talk must degenerate into tattle when the 

 tea has stood for more than seven minutes at the 

 outside. 



With oui: tea a comparative failure*, our coffee is, of 

 course, almost past praying for. Our very pretensions 

 go no further than tea. We lose a good deal by the 

 meanness of our ambition, flood coffee is the finest 

 drink in the world, and it would surely defeat half 

 the intoxicants on their own ground. It is the 

 niost generous of stimulants, and it induces acti- 

 vity and alertness of brain without the faintest trace of 

 elevation. Should any further recommendation be 

 wanted, we may add that, like pure water, it will 

 kill, if you take enough of it, or, rather, too much. 

 Murger died of excessive coffee — not uuflavoured with 

 cognac — but far more people have to thank it for the 

 prolongation of their lives. It is far beyond tea as a 

 dietetic, though perhaps nobody but Merlatti could 

 wisely venture to make it his sole support. Indeed, 

 high authorities say that it should never be taken with- 

 out something sohd, as an accompaniment. Anything 

 will do — a piece of bread, or. failing that, even a waist- 

 coat button, according to the Oriental proverb quoted 

 in an admirable lecture on the subject at the Parkei 

 Museum. It improves with age like the other gener- 

 ous drinks, though not of course when it is iu 

 the state of infusion. The green berry may be 

 kept for fifteen or twenty years, and it will gain 

 in flavour every day. Brown Java, which leaves 

 Mocha far in the shade, is supposed to owo a good 

 deal to its long sojourn in the island before export- 

 ation. It lies in store sometimes for t-eveu years.* 

 The roasting should always be deferred to the very 

 last moment. Pvoast, and brew at once is the golden 

 rule. First get your Brown Java— for that matter, 

 one of half a dozen other kinds will do. Then make 

 a smokeless fire, of coal, or gas ; toss your green 

 berries into an earthenware pipkin, if you have no- 

 thing better at hand, and there need 'be nothing 

 better ; hold it over the flame for fifteen or twenty 

 minutes, to dry it merely, not to burn it. stirring 

 it all the time, and your task ig done. Grind or 

 pound in a mortar— pounding, they say, is better. 

 The Turks find that the pestles improve with use, 

 as the coffee improves with age, and they sell the 

 old ones at a high figure. Two ounces of coffee to 

 the pint of water is the happy mean, and those who 

 want it weaker had better weaken it after the brew. 

 A common jug and a strainer are all you need for 

 the final rite, but people who like to part with their 

 money often insist on more. 



Coffee is best with absolutely no adulteration, but 

 some plead for chicory with it, owing to vices in their 

 bringing up. Dandelion root, roasted acorns, dried 

 cabbage stumps, " or any other form of vegetabl* 

 offal," ought certainly to be left out of the pot. And, 

 if there must be chicory, let us have it pure. There 

 is often an adulteration of the adulteration, in the 

 shape of an admixture of Venetian red, roasted pulse, 

 damaged wheat, mangel wurzel, oak-bark tan, logwood, 

 dog biscuit, or baked liver of horse. But for the 

 grf*ater facihty of adulteration, coffee might be ak 

 largely used in this country as tea. Tea is better pro- 

 tected because it is easier to protect. We seem to 

 drink less and less coffee everj- year. >Some go so 

 far as to say that the adulteration is systematically 

 encouraged by the Government, but this seems un- 

 fair. It does appear to be systematically endured. 

 The Customs have been known to advise their officers 

 not to attempt to di.^tinguisii dan<ielion roots from 

 chicory " on their own responsibility." They ought 

 not to let themselves oft' so easily. A people that had once 

 tasted really good cott'ee could never afford to forget 

 that joy. It is much rarer in England than almost 



* If this were true, which we do not believe, 

 twico the ordinal y price would not pay the producer 

 — Ep, 



