Remarks on the Culture of Exotic Vegetables. 409 



and air on hardened floors, similar to the threshing floors of 

 this colony, but sloping a little to allow the rain water which 

 may fall to pass freely away; the berries must be occasionally 

 turned to allow the pulp to dry equally ; they are then to be 

 submitted to the pestle and mortar, or to wooden rollers, to 

 free the beans from their covering, winnowed, and put up in 

 baskets, and stored in a dry and airy situation; the coffee 

 bean improves by age, provided they are kept perfectly dry. 



The coffee tree has been long known in this colony, but, 

 like many other valuable productions, has not been cultivated 

 to any extent; it merely appears in a few gardens as a curi- 

 osity; nor do I think that extensive plantations, which must 

 compete with the foreign importations, would yield a fair re- 

 muneration for the trouble of rearing ; local situations, how- 

 ever, may create a different and just opinion, and the soils 

 and circumstances of Graaff-Reinet, Uitenhage, Albany, 

 George, and some parts of Swellendam, are particularly 

 adapted for its growth ; those districts producing several indi- 

 genous plants of the same natural order, and of which Gar- 

 denia, Pavetta, and Burchelia, are beautiful instances. 



The coffee tree is a native of Arabia; and it is to the drv, 

 sandy, and hot soil, and arid climate of that country, that the 

 superior flavour of the coffee produced there is ascribed. 



Although the infusion of coffee is in such general use, still 

 there are many who are unacquainted with its real properties. 



" The fresh seeds are febrifuge, diuretic, and tonic; when 

 roasted, they acquire a sweet-scented empyreumatic oil, which 

 is heating to the body, and a small portion of tanning matter: 

 they then form a stomachic antihypnotic infusion, which 

 stimulates the nervous s)^stem." 



■ 



CURCUMA Longa. Turmeric. Kurkuma, Bori. Monan- 

 dria Monogynia, Linn, and Nat. Ord. Scitamineas, Brown. 



In various gardens throughout the colony this plant meets 

 with a partial cultivation, and its roots (tubers) enter into 

 the domestic economy of the household. It may, however, be 

 improved in quality, and also in quantity, with a little more 

 attention than has been paid to it hitherto. 



The natural habitats of nearly the whole of this Natural 

 Order of plants, and more especially those now mentioned, is 

 in vegetable soil in the moist and sheltered clefts of the 

 mountains, and the shady depths and recesses of the tropical 

 forests ; hence Nature herself points out to us the most ready 

 way to improve those plants when brought under a state of 

 cultivation, by directing us to prepare for them a soil similar 

 to that in which they are found in their native wilds 



Where localities permit, beds of black vegetable earth must 



3f 



