56 CULTIVATION OF COFFEE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



the growth and culture of coffee in Java, differs little essential- 

 ly from that of other oriental plantations. Valleys lying between 

 high mountains are preferred here for coffee-growing, because 

 the soil which is washed down from the heights affords fresh 

 food continually to the lowlands ; the valleys themselves are of 

 the proper moisture, since the hills surrounding them attract 

 the rain. 



The labor by which coffee is planted in Java and its produce 

 collected is included among the oppressions or forced services 

 of the natives, and the delivery of it into the government stores 

 among the forced deliveries at inadequate rates. 



Previous to the year 1808 the cultivation of this plant was 

 principally confined to the Sunda districts ; there were but 

 comparatively few plantations in the eastern districts, and the 

 produce which they were capable of yielding did not amount 

 to one-tenth part of the whole, but under the administration of 

 Marshal Daendals this plant usurped the soil destined for the 

 subsistence of the people ; every other kind of cultivation was 

 made subservient to it, and the withering effects of a govern- 

 ment monopoly extended their influence throughout every 

 province of the island. 



In the Sunda districts each family was obliged to take care 

 of 1,000 coffee-plants, and in the eastern districts, where new 

 and extensive plantations were now to be formed on soils and 

 in situations in many instances by no means favorable to the 

 cultivation, 500 plants were the prescribed allotment. 



The United States and Holland are the principal markets 

 for Java coffee, and it is distinguished into pale yellow and 

 brown, varieties which depend on the curing and the age of 

 the commodity, and not on the modes of culture or any differ- 

 ence in the plants which yield them. 



The pale coffee is the newest and lowest priced, the brown is 

 the oldest and most esteemed. Coffee stored in Java loses the 



