CULTIVATION OF COFFEE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 57 



first year 8$, the second, about 5$, and the third, about 2$, 

 after which it continues stationary and assumes a brown color. 

 This is the brown coffee of commerce. 



Recent scientific discoveries have shown that the improve 

 ment caused by keeping Java coffee is owing to the evapora 

 tion of the caffeic acid, which is the principle that imparts 

 the harsh, bitter, and astringent taste, which cannot be disguis 

 ed. It is very much the same change that takes place in fine 

 brands of wine, which acquire their rich, mellow flavors only 

 by age. Old government Java coffee has always been highly 

 prized by epicures. Although there is some shrinkage in weight 

 caused by keeping coffee for a length of time, still the great 

 improvement and increased value more than counterbalances 

 this loss. By carefully examining pale and brown Java coffee, 

 much difference will be found in the smell of the raw bean. 

 There is a particular spicy aroma about brown Java that the 

 pale varieties never acquire until age has mellowed and chang 

 ed their appearance. 



There appeared a few years ago a work bearing the title of 

 &quot; Max Havelaar ; or, the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading 

 Company.&quot; The author wrote under the pseudonym of Mul- 

 tatuli ; he was an assistant resident of -the Dutch government 

 in Java. The book appeared in the form of a novel, and treated 

 of the incredible extortions and tyranny of which the natives of 

 the Dutch Indies, &quot; that magnificent empire of Insulind, which 

 winds about the equator like a garland of emeralds,&quot; are the 

 victims ; and how he tried in vain, while still in the service of 

 the government, to put an end to the cruel oppressions that 

 happen every day in those countries. Many considered it an 

 interesting and captivating work of fiction, but the author 

 maintained that it contained nothing but facts, and the govern- 



o 7 a 



ment was challenged to prove the substance of the work to be 

 false ; but its truth has never been disputed. It proves that 

 3* 



