COFFEE. 



715 



A similar opposition was made to the use of coffee in 

 Constantinoole. Coal being one of the substances prohi- 

 bited by Mahomet as unfit for human food, the dervises 

 pretended that roasted coffee must be included in this pro- 

 hibition, and with the aid of the Mufti, who held the 

 same opinion, all the coffee houses were shut up. Upon 

 the accession of a more liberal Mufti, the coffee houses 

 were again opened; but it was found soon afterwards, that 

 these places of resort were the haunts of the vicious and dis- 

 affected, and upon this new plea they were again shut up. 



The use of coffee, as a beverage, in the west of Europe, 

 appears to have been known about the end of the l6th 

 century. It was introduced into Marseilles, in 1644, by 

 some gentlemen who accompanied Monsieur De la Haye 

 to Constantinople. Several bales were brought from 

 Egypt to Marseilles, in 1660, and in 1671 a coffee house 

 was opened in that city. Thevenot had already brought 

 a small quantity of it to Paris, in 1657 ; but it was not 

 generally introduced into that metropolis till 1669, by the 

 ambassador from the Porte ; and in 1672, a public coffee 

 house was opened by one Pascal, an Armenian, who after- 

 wards went to London. 



Nearly about the same time, coffee was introduced into 

 London. So early as 1652, Danial Edwards, a Turk- 

 ish merchant, brought with him a Greek servant, who un- 

 derstood the method of roasting and preparing it, and 

 who was the first who sold coffee publicly. In the year 

 1660, a duty of four pence was laid upon every gallon 

 of coffee ; and in 1663 it was enacted, that all coffee 

 houses should take out a licence at the quarter sessions. 



We are informed by Boerhaave, in his " Index to the 

 Leyden Garden," that Nicolas Witsen, governor of the 

 Dutch East India Company, instructed Van Hoorn, go- 

 vernor of Bata via, to procure the coffee plant from Mocha, 

 and to cultivate it at Batavia ; and that this was accom- 

 plished in 1690. Many plants are said to have been 

 raised at that settlement, one of which was sent to Am- 

 sterdam, where it bore fruit. From Amsterdam a fine 

 plant was sent to Louis XIV. in 1714, which is said to 

 have been the parent of all that have since been cultivated 

 in the Dutch and the French West India islands. The 

 introduction of the coffee plant into Java is placed much 

 later by Stavorinus, who asserts, that it was first intro- 

 duced from Mocha into Batavia, in 1722, or 1723, by 

 M. Zwardekrom, the governor general. In 1717, several 

 coffee plants were sent to Martinique. In 1718, they 

 were introduced from Arabia into the Isle of Bourbon, 

 and in the same year into Cayenne, and in 1732 it was 

 cultivated in Jamaica. 



In the year 1784, the cultivation of coffee was intro- 

 duced into the Spanish possessions in eastern Terra Fir- 

 ma, by D. Barthelemy Blandin, who began plantations 

 in the valley of Chacao, within a league of Caraccas. 

 Dr Sligo followed the example of Blandin, and in 

 a short time this new branch of cultivation was adopted 

 in the valley of Aragoa, and throughout all the provinces. 

 In consequence of the war with England, from 1793 to 

 1801, when the commerce of South America was de- 

 stroyed by the English cuizers, the culture of cacao, 

 which does not keep for more than ten months, was in a 

 great measure abandoned by the planters, and that of 

 coffee substituted in its room. 



On the Cultivation of Coffee. 



The coffee plant may be advantageously cultivated 

 within 30 leagues of the equator, where the temperature is 

 necr lower than 10 or 12 of Reaumur. The boil iliould 



be new and free, and a little elevated, so that the tro- 

 pical heats may be moderated by the rains. Land com- 

 posed of hard and cold clay, or light and sandy ground 



Coffee. 



Cultivation 

 of coffee. 



on a bed of marl, should be particularly avoided, as it 

 makes the leaves of the plant turn yellow, and the plant 

 itself either perishes, or becomes barren. In Arabia the 

 soil is rocky, dry, and hot, and in Batavia it is rich and 

 deep. The plantation should be exposed as little as pos- 

 sible to the north, and should be protected from the salt 

 air of the sea, which withers the coffee. 



As soon as the land is well cleaned, holes are made for Method of 

 receiving the plant, at such a distance as the planterthinks planting. 

 proper. The plants are generally placed in parallel rows, 

 though it has been suggested as more economical to plant 

 them in triangles. It was generally the custom to place 

 the plants at the distance of four or five feet in every 

 kind of soil ; but it has now been found from experience, 

 that this distance should be increased when the soil is 

 more fertile, and that in poor lands it should not be less 

 than 4 feet, and never below 8 feet in the most fertile. 

 The depth of the holes should always be increased with 

 the depth of the vegetable mould, the roots never being 

 permitted to penetrate to the stony ground. In St Do- 

 mingo, M. Bruley, an eminent colonial proprietor, planted 

 coffee grains at 6 inches distance in a quincunx, in soil pre- 

 pared for that purpose. When the plants were ready to 

 be transplanted, the ground was well watered, so that . 

 when the plant was taken up, its roots were surrounded 

 with earth. In this state they were placed in the holes. 

 The effects of the scorching heat of the torrid zone upon 

 the soil, were tempered by heaping flints round the 

 plants, and by this means a freshness was preserved in the 

 soil even in the driest seasons. The plantations which 

 M. Bruley reared in this manner, produced coffee trees', 

 which were handsomer, stronger, and yielded sooner than 

 those of his neighbours.* 



The young plants should be two feet high before they 

 are taken from the nursery. They must be covered with 

 earth two inches above their roots, and cut at ten inches 

 above the surface of the earth, leaving nothing but the 

 stem. The best season for planting coffee is before the- 

 rains, and it is of great importance that the plants should 

 be lopped off at a certain height, depending on the na- 

 ture or the soil. In the best kind, they should be trim- 

 med at four or five feet from the ground, and in the 

 poorest land at 2 feet. The planters of Terra Firma, 

 in general, allow only a height of four feet to the plants. 

 There are many, however, who do not trim them at all, 

 and who permit them to attain their full growth, which 

 is about 25 feet. 



During the first two years, the coffee plants must be Weeding, 

 carefully freed from weeds, and this should be done by the 

 hand rather than with the hoe. Other vegetables may be 

 raised, without any disadvantage, between the rows of 

 coffee plants. In the second year, the plants yield a light produce, 

 crop ; and in the third year, they are in full bearing. In 

 Terra Firma, each plant yields about 2 pounds of coffee ; 

 in Jamaica 14- pound; and in St Domingo 1 pound. Ac- 

 cording to Humboldt, each plant yields in a good soil 

 one kilogramme of coffee, and 960 of them may be plant- 

 ed on a hectare of ground. Excepting at the season of 

 blossoming, the plants require much rain, and care must 

 be taken to preserve them from insects and weeds. 



As soon as the coffee is ripe, it is the custom in Ara- 

 bia to spread large linen cloths below the trees, which 

 are shaken from time to time, to detach the ripe cherries 

 from the branches. The iiuit gathered in this manner 



See Mcmeirc nr U Caftr, read M the public sitting of the Lycce dcs Arts, 30th Pluv. 1801. 



