July i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



41 



dates, and finings. In some cases the compound was 

 called cufFoe, ia others a mixture, and in others " specially 

 prepiired French coffee." Now, what is the result ? Whereas 

 the coiisuniistion of a wholesome beverage, well fitted to 

 advance temperate habits, is increasing elsewhere, with us 

 it is decreasing. In 1847, with a duty nearly three times 

 as heavy as the present one, our consumption was 

 37,472,1531b., or about 2 lb. per head; it has now 

 declined to 31.943,4001b., or less than 1 lb. per head. 

 Each succeeding year there is a falling-off. In lS7i>, the 

 duty on coffee yielded £216,800 ; in 1880, £203,500 ; and 

 in 1881, £199,600. The public, in fact, finding themselves 

 only able to buy the wretched stuff which is sold to them 

 inider the name of, or coupled with tlic name of, coffee, are 

 leaving off drinking it. The profits upon these adulter- 

 ations are enormous. Asa rule, these mixtures are sold <at 

 Is per tb., whereas good pure coffee, roasted and ground, 

 can be solil retail for lOd or lid per lb. In America, the 

 consumption is at the rate of 8 lb. per head per annum ; 

 in Germany, with a duty of 21s per cwt., it is 5 lb. per head; 

 aud in France, with a duty of 60s per cwt., it is 4tb, per head. 

 These facts speak for themselves. 



I would recommend the friends of temperance to insist 

 upon sh.arp penalties being enforced against all who sell 

 mixtures aud who couple the name of coffee with them. 

 AVhat we require are beverages, wholesome and agreeable, 

 that will compete with beer and spirits . It is no use 

 establishing coffee taverns if, by an abuse of law, we habituate 

 people to the notion that coffee is a foul and unpalatable 

 concoction. 



The real way to have good coffee is to roast and grind 

 it each morning, and to use at least two teaspoonsful for 

 each cup required. The best plan to make coffee is that 

 of the French peasants. They heat it in a saucepan, being 

 careful to take it off the fire one second before the water 

 boils, ,aud then they strain it through a piece of muslin. 

 Poor people, however, have not the time for this; they buy 

 their coffee roasted aud ground, and some means ought to 

 be taken to ensm-e its purity. Years ago, when this subject 

 • was being discussed in Parliament, I remember that the 

 late Sir Fr.incis Baring, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, 

 insisted that eoff'ee was better with chicory than without it 

 and that he always took this mixture himself for his break- 

 fast. Tastes differ. Bad coffee, and badly made coffee, are' 

 perhaps, better with chicory, because it abates the bitter- 

 ness; but I hardly fancy that even the late Sir Francis 

 Baring would have liked a cup prepared from a mixtui-e 

 containing 7 per cent, of coffee and 93 per cent, of chicory, 

 dandelions, dates, and finings. — Truth. 



It will be a good thing if the Planters' Association 

 would order you to reprint and di.si3atch to each member 

 of Parliament (or to that portion of them professing 

 sympathy with the U. K. Alliance and other kindred 

 bodies), to each judge of assize, to each leading pre- 

 late and to each dissenting minister openly sympath- 

 izing with tlie temperance movement, and to all who 

 take the lead in such movements, a small pamphlet em- 

 brachig original articles and all extracts, &c. that have 

 appeared in the Observer, bearing upon the scourge 

 of adulteration of staple articles of food (winked at 

 by successive goverameuts), which scourge is without 

 doubt the fly-u-heel of a vast proportion of evils brought 

 about l)y the intemperate use of alcoholic druiks at 

 the present day. The people of England mnst, 

 sooner or later, be made to feel that they (i. e. 

 the lemperale portion of them) are, in truth, respons- 

 ible for the fearful evils referred to, and when 

 their eyes are once opened to this fact the work- 

 ing man's breakfast table will then be made as 

 pure as the rich man's dinner table (and so it ought 

 to be), and wo shall then soon hear less of the cant- 

 ing humbug about the crimes committed due to 

 '•drink" !— clue, it will be found, eventually to weak 

 and wicked Gorei-nmenl-i truckling to the jiower of 

 licensed victuallers aud unscrupulous gi'ocers, vjho poss- 



ess by far the largest voting powers of any classca 

 in the kmgdom ! 



I verily lielieve tliat, at the present moment, a great 

 proportion of the crimes now so prc\'alent in Ireland 

 must be placed down to the present and former Go- 

 vernments. A great demand has lately sprung up 

 tlu'oughout the world for whisky. It follows, I thuik, 

 that at the present time, owing to this extraorduiaiy 

 call (far past the powers of distilleries to meet, if 

 really good well-seasoned whisky is to be supplied), 

 millions of gallons of unseasoned and maddening 

 spii-it must be let loose not only upon the miserable and 

 misguided Irish Imt upon even the less passionate aud 

 generally cooler headed English and Scotcli. If there 

 is no law against such vials of madness being poured 

 out upon the people (and I believe there is not), then 

 the sooner the English Parliament attends to such 

 a sickening state of things the better. • As it is, our 

 gaols, our lunatic asylums, our workhouses, are being 

 filled to a great e.xtent by the legitimate use of im- 

 mature spii-its, and most of all by that legitimized 

 demon Fuse Oil. 



P. S. — Surely no whisky or other spirit under a 

 certain age should be allowed to be retailed under 

 the very heaviest of penalties. 



MANURING EXPEPJMENTS. 



(Prom our Aberdeeii Corresspondent.) 

 I cull the following from the annual reportby Mr. 

 Jamieson (Agricultural Chemist, Aberdeen) on the 

 manure experiments conducted by him at the experi- 

 mental stations in Sussex, submitted by him 1o the 

 meetint; of the Sussex Association for the improvement 

 of agriculture. It is interesting as giving the finishing 

 blow to the long controversy, the " battle of the ]ihos- 

 phates ": — 



BE.SULTS OF EXPEKIMENTS ON TUBNIPS WITH VARIOUS 

 PHOSPHATES. 



So nearly equal in results are the different forms of phos 

 phate used, and so doubtful are the slight superiorities 

 when the indiridual results are examined, that it would 

 be wandering from economy to piu-chase superpho.sphate 

 when coprolite , provides the same quantity of phosphate 



