12 The Cultivation and Preparation of Coffee 



following extract from the ' ' Impressions of 

 the West Indies." The writer says : 



" Anything in the way of cultivation more 

 beautiful or more fragrant than a coffee planta- 

 tion I had not conceived, and oft did I say to 

 myself that if ever I became, from health or 

 otherwise, a cultivator of the soil within the 

 tropics, I would cultivate the coffee plant, even 

 although I did so irrespective altogether of the 

 profits that might be derived from so doing. 

 Much has been written, and not without justice, 

 of the rich fragrance of an orange grove, and 

 at home we ofttimes hear of the sweet odours 

 of a bean field. I have, too, often enjoyed in 

 the Carse of Stirling, and elsewhere in Scot- 

 land, the balmy breezes as they swept over the 

 latter, particularly when the sun had burst out 

 with unusual strength after a shower of rain. 

 I have likewise in Martinique, Santa Cruz, 

 Jamaica, and Cuba inhaled the breezes wafted 

 from the orangeries; but not for a moment 

 would I compare either with the exquisite 

 aromatic odours from a coffee plantation in full 

 bloom, when the hill-side covered over with 

 regular rows of the shrubs, with millions 

 of their jasmine-like flowers showers down 

 upon you, as you ride up between the plants, a 

 perfume of the most delicately delicious 

 description. 'Tis worth going to the West 



