250 TRINIDAD. 



numerous and troublesome to leave any fair hope for the 

 extension of coffee cultivation in Trinidad — at least, with 

 its present scanty agricultural population. The Asiatic islands 

 and Brazil will, therefore, probably long enjoy the privilege 

 they have gained of supplying the markets of the world with 

 coffee. We should aspire to this at least, to producing sufficient 

 for our own consumption. 



The coffee plant is subject to diseases which, in certain 

 localities, have proved most destructive. The fine coffee groves 

 of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and other West India islands 

 were thus completely destroyed ; and occasional attempts 

 to revive coffee cultivation have failed. At present the fine 

 coffee plantations of Ceylon suffer extensively from the leaf 

 disease. 



For the last few years there has been a disposition to 

 cultivate coffee in the colony, a few persons trying the 

 experiment on a rather large scale with varieties supplied 

 from the Botanic Gardens mostly. Those varieties are the 

 following, as characterised by Mr. Prestoe : — 



Liberian (Coffea Liberica). — "This extraordinary coffee has 

 become generally known to colonists from the accounts given 

 of it in the newspapers; the large size of the beans, and the 

 high price realised for this coffee, having first attracted the 

 attention of persons desirous of promoting coffee cultivation 

 in the British tropical colonies. 



" It is indigenous to the West Coast of Africa, about Sierra 

 Leone and Liberia, where it appears to be almost the only 

 kind cultivated, and with much success, in hot and moist 

 lowlands, or hills of no great altitude. . . . This kind 

 of coffee may be regarded as a perfectly safe and most 

 valuable introduction to this island. 



" The soil in which the plants in the Botanic Gardens have 

 thriven, is the ordinary red gravelly loam or clay-like deposit 

 found associated with quartz and schists throughout the 

 northern parts of the island. 



" A glance at the Liberian coffee plant impresses one 

 with the great difference in the character of the plant 

 and that of the common or Creole coffee, and suggests 

 method of culture somewhat different. . . . With a sh 

 and general robustness of habit at least three times tl 



