64 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE 



Coffea arabica, of which several are known to exist in Abyssinia and 

 Central Africa; but more recent investigations have placed it as a dis- 

 tinct species, which has been named Coffea Liberica. Efforts are now 

 being made to introduce this species into coffee-growing regions, on ac- 

 count of its supposed immunity from the rust, a fungoid disease that has 

 greatly impaired the value of the coffee-crop in some of the best plan- 

 tations in various parts of the world. This Liberian species is said to 

 be of larger and of more robust growth than any other cultivated kind; 

 whether it will prove to be hardier, or mature its fruit in climates of 

 lower temperature, remains to be seen. 



A young plant growing in the Department conservatory fully bears 

 out the above description as to appearance and growth ; the leaves are 

 double the size of those of any other species, of which there are several 

 in the collection, and in other respects its distinctive character is quite 

 apparent. 



Seeds of this class of plants are not readily procurable through ordi- 

 nary commercial sources, and looking to the desirability of giving this 

 promising species of coffee a fair experimental test, a sufficient quantity 

 of seeds for this purpose might be obtained directly from Liberia. 



Unless under the most carefully-guarded conditions, coffee-seed soon 

 loses its vegetative powers ; the only successful method of transporting 

 fresh seed is to pack securely in a tin box, suxroundUig each seed with 

 dry sand, and hermetically seal the package. 



Statements have been freely circulated to the effect that the " coffee- 

 plant grows wild all over California." The latest "coffee-plant" thus 

 eulogized is the Frangula californica, a native plant allied to the buck- 

 thoru. 



INDIA-RUBBER PLANTS. 



In the praiseworthy endeavors to introduce new industries into the 

 Southern States, requests are made for economic plants of many kinds 

 that are strictly tropical ptoductions, and among these may be placed 

 the India-rubber-bearing trees. 



Various plants afford caoutchouc, the elastic, gumm^- substance bet- 

 ter known as India rubber, but as far as is known it is solely produced 

 by plants of tropical climates. In the East Indies it is collected from 

 Urceola elastica ; from several species of Ficns, mainly from Ficus elastica; 

 and from a few other species, natives of the East Indies and western 

 tropical Africa. 



South American rubber is also extracted from plants of different 

 genera. The best is said to be obtained from the Hevea hrasiliensis^ a 

 native of the Para forests, considered to be distinct from the Siplionia 

 elastica^ which furnishes the largest portion of the rubber entering into 

 the commerce of that country. The sand-box tree, Rura crepitans, yields 

 a milky juice which is similarly converted into caoutchouc by evapora- 

 tion. These plants belong to the natural order Fnphorbiacea;, a large 

 family of plants, mostly yielding a milky juice, containing acrid and 

 poisonous properties. 



Mexican rubber is extracted from a native tree, the Castilloa elastica^ 

 which grows abundantly near the Gulf coast. This plant is botanically 

 allied to the rubber-producing Ficus of the East Indies. 



A new elastic gum has recently been produced in Mexico, which is 

 said to be derived from a native herbaceous plant allied to the family 

 of asters. This plant would probably succeed in the Southern States. 



These are strictly tropical trees, for which we have no suitable cli- 

 mate J but attention might profitably be directed to the gum-producing 



