41 CULTIVATION OF COFFEE IX VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



more rapid progress in the world, or gained for itself more 

 general acceptation with all classes, than coffee. Its constantly 

 increasing consumption as a beverage, as seen by the statistical 

 tables, clearly proves that it may be regarded not only as one of 

 the necessities of civilized life, but also as a very important one. 

 Two things connected with coffee conduce to its popularity, 

 its refreshing, restoring, and exhilarating qualities and its noii- 

 inebriating influence. A beverage that shall be found to 

 combine these essential requisites is, indeed, a sine qua non 

 with multitudes, who, while they would seek the stimulant, 

 would also avoid the penalty of the intoxicating draught. 

 Coffee, therefore, is to be regarded as an auxiliary to temper- 

 ance ; since its use tends largely to supersede that of spirituous 

 liquors. This continued increase in the demand for the bever- 

 age, irrespective of climatic influences, will of necessity extend 

 the present area of its cultivation largely into those belts 

 of land which are favorable to the production of the plant. 

 These lands are found lying principally between the isothermal 

 lines of 25 north and 30 south of the equator, as may be 

 seen by reference to the accompanying Map. It has been 

 ascertained that the plant cannot be grown to advantage in 

 places where the thermometer descends at any time below 55. 



Besides the existing countries where coffee is cultivated, 

 there are many other places where it might be extensively 

 grown, such, for instance, as the western coast of Africa 

 generally, the interior ranges of Natal, the mountain ranges 

 on the northern coast of Australia, from Moreton Bay to Torres 

 Straits, &c. Soil and climate are the circumstances which 

 chiefly affect its commercial value. 



The cultivation of coffee is now widely diffused over all the tro- 

 pical parts of the world. It is found in most of the West India 

 Islands, in the provinces of Central America, Cayenne, Peru, 

 Bolivia, and especially Brazil the greatest market of all. It 



