6 Coffee Planting. 



Some berries which had in the first place been 

 procured at Mocha were, it is narrated, carried to 

 Java, and there planted, a specimen plant being 

 sent home to Amsterdam in 1690 by Governor 

 Wilson. This plant bore fruit in the uncongenial 

 climate of Holland, from which many young trees 

 were propagated, and from this original, singular 

 to relate, most of the gardens of Europe and the 

 East Indies are supposed to have been furnished. 

 Bishop Compton first cultivated the plant in 

 Britain, in the year 1696. In 1714 a plant was 

 presented by the magistrates of Amsterdam to the 

 French king, Louis XIV. ; this plant was placed 

 at Marley, under the care of Jussieu, and from this 

 source plants were forwarded some years after- 

 wards to the French West India Islands, and from 

 these all the coffee now found in that part of the 

 world derives its origin. 2 



Coffee contains valuable medicinal properties, 

 among others that of being anti-soporific, and 

 hence useful in cases of narcotic poisoning. From 

 the stimulating and enlivening effect of the beve- 

 rage upon the system, one would suppose that it 

 must contain a considerable amount of nutrition. 

 Mr. Galton, however, in his "Art of Travel'' 

 denies that either tea or coffee contain any real 

 nutriment. Opposed to this, we have, on the other 

 2 Rhind's " History of the Vegetable Kingdom.' 7 



