May I, 1886.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



777 



TBIAL SHIPMENT OF LIBEBIAN CHMIBY 

 COFFEE FEOJI CEYLON TO THE AMEBICAN 

 MABKET. 

 Some lime ago we mentioned that we 

 thought there was a good market in the United 

 States for parcels of Liberian coffee in the 

 cherry and one or two sales quote d by us com- 

 pared very favourably with the prices obtained 

 for the pulped and cleaned coffee in the Loudon 

 market ; but a later experience is, we regret to say, 

 not so favourable. The particulars we now give, may 

 be of interest to owners of Liberian coffee gardens. 

 The following is an extract from a report 

 from a Philadelpia merchant, of the result of 

 an experiment made last year in shipping 

 Liberian cherry dried in the shell or " uuhuUed " 

 as the Americans say : — i 



When business began to open in September I I 

 sent small samples of the bays of coffee clfuned, \ 

 not only to coffee brokers, but grocers, result- ' 

 ing in only a few offers of S, 8} and 'J cents per lb. 

 which I did uot feel free to accept,! hopiug all the i 

 time that tlie coffee market would soon have a 

 better and brighter outlook, but, instead of tliat 

 right the reverse, the best price possible being at , 

 10 cents per lb. net cash, as per accouut herewith 

 enclosed. If these bags had been my owji, I 

 would uot have sold until next mouth, when I could ' 

 have sold for llj or 12 cents. Coffee market points 

 that way now. 



At no time within the past 39 years has 

 the U. S. coffee market been so upside down 

 and irregular. At any time within the past six ' 

 months i could, and today could buy Rio coffee 

 at li, 7 and S cents per lb" Six millions of bags of 

 coffee reached this country within the past year 

 — two millions more than in the previous year. No 

 wonder the market has been upset, aud coffee never 

 so low ill price. If I could have waited for the market 

 I would have received a higher flgure for this parcel. 

 In hulling coffee and makiug it perfectly cleau, so as i 

 to sell, some of the hulls are ground too fine to .sell. 

 It IS utterly impossible to hull and brush away 

 the tine dirt from the coffee, and not experience the 

 loss in gross weight. Out of the 9,87(1 lb. gross 

 weight, I got all the coffee, if not more than if 

 pulped in the old way on the coffee plantation, 

 wlieru there ever is a loss ol actual coffee and the 

 hulls or pulp thrown away. The planter in selling 

 has to allow for the freight on his cleau coffee, 

 whereas, 1 have sold as you see enough hulls to 

 pay the freight on both hulls and coffee. The 

 fiviglit was Srj3iV2; hulls sold for S.iO.OO Suppose 

 you had pulped aud cleaned these S)4 bags on the 

 plantation, you would have recei\ed no more actual 

 coffee tlian I have doue— then the time and ciist of 

 hulling, itc. Could you have obtained 10 cents 

 pi-r lb. for the coffee at the place of export ■! 

 All we know is that the net result for 88.J cwt. 

 gros.s weight of cherry shipped from Ceylon is 

 tlW 12s equal to IWly or about 1 rupee per bushel 

 tor the cherry which measured some 2.50 bushels. 

 At the time it was shipped we believe more tlian 

 this,- -perh.aps, as much as Kl^ per bushel— could 

 be got for it from native dealers in Colombo. The 

 charges in the American invoice are a caution ! True, 

 the "hullings" paid for the freight, and the local 

 estimate of about 10 to 12 bushels of dried cherry to 

 the cwt. of idean coffee, was singularly close to the ac- 1 

 tual result, namely 2,527 lb. or 22A cwt. which re- 

 lized about -los per cwt. But the charges, especially 

 for •■ liulling and cleaning " (nearly €20 .-sterling 

 in order to get 22 cwt. clean coffee!) were stupendous, 

 and as a. curiosity as well as a matter of instruc- 

 tion to Liberian coffee planters we append the ' 



Philadelphia invoice referred to : — 



Cr. Doll ars. 



i By UnhtJled Liberia coffee 



„ Hulls l.-Wa lb., at 1 cent . . . . S15-G2 

 „ „ 3,438 lb. at 1 cent .. .. 31-.S8 

 „ SaL=s lil bags coffee 2,.^27 lb. at 



10 ceuts net 252-70 $302-70 



' Dr. 



To Cash paid G. H. charges .. .. 1-6G 

 ,t II II Freight and primage . . 53-92 

 I, M ,, Commission of C. H. 



Broker 5-00 



,, ,, ,, Brokerage, owner's oath 



and fee.. .. .. 2-70 



Freight from N. Y. 24 



bags hulls .. .. 2-18 



,, II II Drayage in Philadelphia 1-00 



Freight from N. Y. 49 



bags hulls . . . . 4-97 

 I, I, I, Drayage in Philadelphia 2-00 

 ,, ,1 ,, Weighing 93 bags, un- 



bulled coffee . . . . 3-88 

 II ,, II Freight on 19 bags of 



coffee from N. Y'. . . J-l'iO 

 I, I, „ Drayage on 19 bags of 



coffee in Philadelphia 1-50 

 ,, 11 ,, Dawner & Snyder weigh- 

 ing 19 bags . . . . 0-75 

 11 ,, ,, Charges for hulling and 



cleaning 94 bags 9,872 lb. 98-72 

 ., ,, ,, Charges for storage in 



New York .. .. 9-40 

 ,, ,, ,, Charges for cartage to 



mill 7-52 



,, ,, ,, Charges for drayage on 



73 bag of hulls iu N. Y'. 3-84 

 ,, I, I, Chargehfor selling coffee 

 and hulls 3 per cent 



i3U2-70 9-00 



„ „ „ Draft on London . . 91UH 5302-70 



From the nett ill-Of; dollars or the B249 we 

 must deduct K7 " Consular fee for invoice " in 

 Colombo and E<j9-70 charges between the garden 

 and the vessel, so that for the 250 bushels of 

 dried cherry, the planter gets the magnificent sum 

 of K172-30! Selling to '^Tambies" on the estate 

 or at any rate in Colombo, he could have netted 

 not less than R.SOO, so that no more cherry coffee 

 is likely to be sent in this way to America as an 

 experiment. 



WHY TEA CANNOT EVEBYWHEEE 

 SUCCEED IN CEYLON : 



now IT IS BEINO " RUSHED " IN S03IE CASES. 

 THK NUMBER OF ENEMIES. 



(By an Old Coffee rinntei:) 



The young Goliath (tea) stands and will stand 

 Ceylon in good stead, but there is many a false 

 David slinging at him with stones in the shape 

 of rubbishy land, had seed, bad plants and bad 

 planting, so that some blooming capitalists seeing 

 their champion in a sick condition in a year or 

 two after this may feel as did the Philistines of old. 



We have the gentleman who proposes tn sell 

 seed of a good hybrid jat and a very hybrid jat 

 it is. principally China. 



Wo have the gentleman selling tea seed off 3 years 

 bushes, off which he is plucking leaf fr.ely at 

 same time. 



Then we have the gentleman who tells his cooly 

 to crack off the outer skin of the tea seed in the 

 field and then soaks the seed in his cisterns to keep 

 it up to weight. 



Then there is the gentleman who orders his 

 coolies to dig 300 holes and plant .'iOO plants. 



Then there is the patanaand thin scrub planting 

 gentleman who will palm off his acres en the 

 confiding Assistant two years hence. 



