TREES OF AMERICA. 81 



buy luxuries ; yet they were unwilling to go 

 without their coffee, and so they were very 

 glad when they found a tree growing in great 

 plenty, with large pods like the honey-locust, 

 and seeds in the pods that tasted something 

 like coffee ; and they called it the coffee-tree." 



" And did they burn the seeds and make 

 coffee of them, Uncle Philip ?" 



"Yes; but the country was settled very 

 fast, and the merchants soon began to come 

 from New-Orleans, and the settlers grew rich, 

 as the land was very good, and it was but a 

 short time before West India coffee was 

 plenty enough; and then they roasted no 

 more of the seeds of the coffee-tree ; but it 

 kept its name." 



"And what is it good for now. Uncle 

 Philip ?" 



" It has one use that is rather curious ; it 

 never grows but in very rich land, and the 

 settlers always know that the soil is good 

 where they find it ; so it saves them the 

 trouble of digging, and ploughing, and plant- 

 ing, to see whether the land is worth culti- 

 vating. Besides this, the wood is of an ex- 

 cellent quality; fine-grained and hard, and 

 good both for cabinet-making and building 



G 



