284 THE BOOK OP USEFUL PLANTS 



key go into the plantations and buy the crop on 

 the trees. Only the inferior coffee that these buy- 

 ers refuse gets to the port of Mocha, and thence 

 into the market. So the trade name, Mocha and 

 Java, is misleading in the extreme. We might 

 as well understand that the first name would 

 better be dropped. 



Java coffee comes from the Dutch East Indies, 

 where the plantations are under government 

 control, and methods are very thorough. The 

 Arabian species was at first grown. But unfor- 

 tunately a leaf disease destroyed the industry by 

 killing the trees. The coarser Liberian coffee was 

 introduced and found to be resistant to the blight. 

 Nothing could be done but grow this less desirable, 

 but more vigorous and productive species. Since 

 the leaf disease swept the Islands in 1873 and again 

 in 1878, the cultivation of Arabian coffee has been 

 attempted only by private enterprise, and for 

 household use by families who are willing to take 

 the trouble and the risk for the chance of having 

 the rare, fine Mocha toasted, pulverized, and 

 steeped as a morning beverage, just as their 

 forefathers had it in the good old days. 



Special high quality is accorded by experts to 

 coffee raised in Bolivia. But the home market 

 consumes it all, so we cannot test it. "Blue 



