JVLY t, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGmCXTLTVmSf. 



57 



COFFEE AND CHICOXiY, 



Thei-e can be no doubt that Sir James Elphinstone 

 is right iu the letter which we publish elsewhere, aad 

 the Plftuttra' Association and Chamber of Commerce 

 of Ceylou ought to give the Britisli Government no 

 peioe until coffee ia placed on precisely the same foot- 

 ing as tea. The permission to mix even chicory 

 opL-us a wide door for fraud as well as for the de- 

 terioration of taste if not health by the sanction given 

 to ijroportions up to 90 per cent of the ground root. 

 Here is the definition of chicory from an impartial 

 authority, Webster's American Dictionary ;— 



Chicory — n [Fr chlcorce. It. cicoria, cicorea, Lat. dehor- 

 iuiUt (Hot.) A plant of the genus Cichorittt/i, or succory. C 

 lattfhus, or wild cliiccory, is exteu.sively cultivated and 

 used for adulterating coffee, the roots being dried, roasted, 

 aud ground with the coffee-bean. 



U'e Siiid years ago and we repeat our state- 

 ment now that representative planting and mere- 

 anlile bodies in the coffee-growing British depend- 

 encies will not be doing their duty until they 

 make this very real gripvance the occasion of an annual 

 memorial to the Treasury. To allow mixtures of 

 "coffee and chicory" to be sold without specifying 

 the proportion of the latter as a check upon retail 

 dealers, is to perpetuate a gross injustice towards both 

 the producer aud consumer. But better far than to 

 specify the proportions would be to forbid all mixtures, 

 "the woikiiig man" buying his cofifoe aud chicory 

 separately inthesame way, — asSir James Elphinstone well 

 points out — as he now buys his tea and sugar. We 

 readily acknowledge that m this matter theConservativen 

 have held views sounder and more just in our opinion 

 than successive Liberal Governments, and ever since, is 

 1870, Mr. Ilucker, senior, personally recounted to us the 

 history of his prolonged agitation and his repeated 

 rebulis at the Treasury, we have looked for redress 

 with more hope to Mr. Hubbard's and Sir James 

 Elphinstoue's political friends than to the other side. 

 Mr. (iladstone has, however, done a certain amount 

 of justice at last to the coffee interest, but by 

 no means a full measure ; and the sale of coffee pure 

 and smiple, like tea, cocoa or sugar, ought to be 

 the claim of every producer, merchant and right, 

 minded colonist, until the full remedy is applied- 

 We trust Sir James Elphiustone's timely appeal will 

 bear fruit both in the tiaudy Association aud Co- 

 lombo Chamber. The tender of thanks for the con- 

 cession already made — or rather the wrong so far 

 righted — ought to be accompanied by a request for 

 full justice to an important and much-tried industry 

 atl'eoting India as well as Ceylon aud the West In- 

 dies. Like Oliver Twist we must all cry out for 

 " More," and if we only cry with due zeal and 

 persistency, we are certain with so good a claim, 

 to get what we want. 



SIR JAMES ELPHINSTONE ON COFFEE AD- 

 ULTERATION : A CALL TO FURTHER AGIT- 

 ATION AGAINST THE MIXTURE OF CHICORY. 

 —THE COLOMBO HARBOUR WORKS. 



London, May 1st, 18S2. 

 Dear Sip.,— I enclose the Treasury minute pro- 

 hibiting entirely the introduction and sale of those 

 8 



vegetalile subslauces which have hitherto acted so 

 prejudicially on the consumption of our staple: 



3. Resolved : — That the duty of excise on vegetable m.atter 

 grown m the. United Kingdom applicable to the uses of 

 chicory or coffee (other than chicory) shall cease to be pay- 

 able, and the sale or exposm-e for sale of any such vegetable 

 matter in imitation of, or mixed with, chicory or coffee shall 

 be rendered illegal. 



4. Ri'sblved: — That, towards raising the Supply granted 

 to Her Majesty, the duties of Customs now charged on tea 

 .shall continue to be levied and charged on aud after the 

 fii-st day of August, one thousand eight hundred and eighty- 

 two, until the first day of August, one thousand eight 

 huncb-ed and eighty-tlu-ee, on importation into Great 

 Britain or Ireland (that is to say) : on 



Tea... ... ... ... ... the lb. 6d. 



5. Resolved -.—That the duties of Customs on vegetablo 

 matter applicable to the uses or chicory of coffee (other 

 than chicory) shall cease to be payable, and the importation 

 as merchanflise of any such vegetable matter mixed with 

 coffee or chicory shall be prohibited. 



Chicory is still permitted to be mixed with coffee 

 and we ought not to cease our endeavours until we 

 enforce the separate sale of the articles. The plea 

 is tliat a portion of chicory improves coffee. If so, 

 which I am not disposed to admit, let those who 

 like it use it as suits their taste. Every one uses 

 sugar with tea, but I never heard of tea being sold 

 mi.xed with sugar. 



Tea is guarded from all admixture. Why should not 

 coffee be equally protected ? the Government could not 

 resist the indueutial power brought to bear on them 

 by Mr. Hubbard, and, if they insist on coffee and 

 chicory being sold separately, it could not be per- 

 mitted to continue iu the jireseut unsatisfactory practice. 



The influence of jour journal can do mucli to 

 stimulate and continue the agitation, and a petition ou 

 the subject sent to Mr. Hubbard to the above effect 

 H-ould enable him to obtain a concession so just and 

 so reasonable. — I remain, dear sir, yours very truly, 

 J. D. H. ELPHINSTONE. 



COFFEE "AS SAFE AS THE BANK OF 

 ENGLAND. 



In these days of depression and despondency among 

 nearly all connected with cofl'ee planting in Ceylon, 

 it is a real pleasure to meet with a gentleman who, 

 with large experience and gi-eat responsibilities, can 

 testify to a prosperous coffee plantmg enterprize under 

 the care of Europeans, and in a place so near at hand as 

 the Bamboo division of Coorg iu Southern India. 

 Mr. Meynell, the gentleman we refer to, is agent for the 

 jilantations of the late Jlr. Donald Stewart ( ' ' King of 

 Coorg"), once in Ceylon, as well as for several other pro- 

 perties, and, after eighteen years' experience, he has 

 no hesitation in saying that at no previous period 

 was coffee doing better or the enterprize on a erptinos 

 basis than it now is in the " bamboo " land in Coorg. 

 The " borer " is no longer a persistently troublesome 

 enemy, indeed, it seems to have almost disappeared, 

 while the Coorg planter thinks very little of the leaf 

 fungus hcmikki vastatrix. But Mr. MeyneU does not 

 attribute the comparative exemption from what is our 



worst foe in Ceylon, to any particular kind of coffee 



Nalkanaad or otherwise — as Mr. J. S. Middle- 

 ton led us to infer. Mr. MeyneU rather agrees with 

 what Mr. R. H. Elliott of Mysore told us about the 

 good effect of shade. One uninterrupted expanse 



