CH. IV] COFFEE, CACAO OR CHOCOLATE, KOLA, ETC. 67 



and proved very profitable, coffee would not have died out so 

 completely as has been the case. 



At the present time there are over 5,000,000 acres culti- 

 vated with coffee in the tropics, half of this in Brazil, and 

 another fifth or fourth in the other countries of tropical 

 America, where coffee is often the mainstay of export agricul- 

 ture. The finest qualities of coffee come from the mountain 

 districts of Java, Jamaica, Mexico, Arabia, etc. 



There are two chief kinds of coffee cultivated, Arabian 

 (Goffea arabica) and Liberian (C. liberica), the former growing 

 best in the mountains from 1000 to 5000 feet above the sea, the 

 latter doing best in the "low" country. The former obtains 

 a much better price for its product, and is the only one culti- 

 vated wherever feasible, but in such countries as the Federated 

 Malay States, its cultivation is at present at any rate impossible, 

 and Liberian coffee is attended to. A good many other species 

 have been found in W. Africa, etc., and though none seem 

 specially worth cultivating alone, some are proving useful in 

 hybridisation. 



Of late years a good deal of preliminary work has been done 

 in hybridising the coffees, and some of the Arabian-Liberian 

 hybrids show promise of being of considerable value. In Java, 

 also, a regular system of grafting Arabian upon stocks of 

 Liberian is in common use, and in this way the former can be 

 got to grow at a profit in districts to which it is somewhat 

 unsuitable when grown upon its own roots. 



Coffee is cultivated upon ordinary good soils, and planted 

 about six to eight feet apart in the case of Arabian, twelve in 

 that of Liberian. In Ceylon, in former years, and in parts of 

 the West Indies at the present day, it was cultivated without 

 any shade, but in Java the custom now is to shade it to some 

 extent, and it is found that this renders it less liable to the leaf 

 disease, so that though the disease is very common in Java, 

 coffee can still be grown there at a profit. In most of tropical 

 America, too, it is generally shaded, the commonest trees used 

 being species of Erythrina. The tops of Arabian bushes are 

 often pruned off, to give them a spreading habit at about three 

 to five feet high, while Liberian are left alone. The plant will 



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