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62 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



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of obfervation, or knowing the nature of the grain, moft people being attentive to 

 the quantity of the produce, while the qualities are but feldom confidered. 



I have been many years in thofe colonies ; and being always a lover of coffee, have 

 been often obliged to put up with the produce of the country in its different flates : 

 This gave me room to make many obfervations upon this grain, and I dare fay they 

 are fuch as will be confiantly found true, and (if rightly regarded) will foon put 

 the inhabitants of our Americans Colonies, in a way of fupplyiug the mother country 

 with as good coffee as we ever had from Turkey, or any other part of the world : For 

 the eafier underftanding of this affertion, I fhall fet down the Remarks I have made, 

 as they occur. 





1. New coffee will never parch or mix well, ufe what art you will. This pro 

 ceeds from the natural clamminefs of the juices of the grain, which requires 

 fpace of time proportioned to its quantity to be wholly deftroyed. 



2. The fmaller the grain, and the lefs pulp the berry is, the better the coffee and 

 the fooner it will parch, mix, and acquire a flavour. 



3. The drier the foil, and the warmer the fituation, the better the coffee it pro- 

 duces will be, and the fooner it will acquire a flavour. 



4. The larger and the more fucculent the grain, the worfe it will be, the more 

 clammy, and the longer in acquiring a flavour. 



The worft coffee produced in America will in a courfe of years, not exceed- 

 ing ten or fourteen, be as good, parch and mix as well, and have as high a flavour 

 as the befl we now have from Turkey \ but due care fhould be taken to keep it in a 

 dry place, and to prefer ve it properly. 



6. Small grained coffee, or that which is produced in a dry foil, and warm fitua- 

 tion, will in about three years be as good, and parch as well as that which is now 

 commonly ufed in the coffee-houfes in London. 



Thefe are facl:s founded on repeated experiments, which I have tried from time 

 to time, during my refidence in Jamaica, tho' it be very rare to fee what a man 

 may call good coffee in the Ifland, for they generally drink it a la Sultan (a)> and 

 never referve more than is fufficient to fupply them from one year to another. 



I have examined the Turkey coffee with great care fince I came to England, and 

 conclude from the fize of the grain, the frequent abortion of one of the feeds, 

 and the narrownefs of the fkin that contains the pulp, that the fhrub muft be greatly 

 ftunted in its growth; and from hence judge, that whoever endeavours to produce 

 good coffee, and fuch as would mellow as foon as that of Arabia ; or expect feeds 

 that may have the fame flavour, muft try what can be produced in the lower hills 

 and mountains of the fouthern part of the Ifland 3 nay, even try what the Savannas 

 will bear ; and I am perfwaded it would anfwer well in many places about the foot 

 of the long mountain near King/Ion : an acre or two may be eaiily tried in any part 

 and the experiment will be well worth the labour ; but whoever is for having greater 

 crops, muft keep among the mountains, where the trees grow and fhoot out more 

 luxuriantly. Where-ever this fhrub is cultivated, it fhould be planted at difhnces 

 roportioned to its growth, for in a dry gravelly, or mixed foil, it feldom rifes above 

 five feet, and may be conveniently planted within that diftance of each other ; but 

 among the mountains of Jamaica, where it frequently rifes to the height of nine 

 or ten feet, or more, it requires a larger fcope, and in fuch a foil can be hardly 

 planted nearer than eight or ten feet to each other ; I have however frequently 

 known them crowded in fuch places, and yet produce a great quantity of fruit. 



The gentlemen of Jamaica imagine, that a great deal of the richnefs and fla- 

 vour of the Turkey coffee depends upon their methods of drying it ; but this is 



(a) This I take to be rather the infufion of the half-burnt flakes of new coffee, (for it never will 

 parch, grind, or mix properly while frefh) like that commonly ufed by the coffee-plamers in Jamaica, 





than a decodtioa of the coverings, as it is commonly reported to be. 



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