2 THE NATURE AND CULTIVATION OF COFFEE. 



and temperature,, one only, the coffee of commerce, 

 produced by the Ooffea Arabica, will meet with notice 

 in these pages. The plant is now widely diffused over 

 all the tropical parts of the world. It is found in most 

 of the West India Islands, in all the provinces of 

 Central America, Cayenne, Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia. 

 In Africa it has found a congenial habitat ; in the rising 

 colony of Natal, and again in the northern part of the 

 same continent ; it flourishes both in a wild and cul- 

 tivated state in many parts of Nubia and Abyssinia ; 

 in Asia it is widely spread over Arabia, the western 

 coast of India, Ceylon, Bourbon, Mauritius, Java, and 

 some of the Pacific Islands ; and in many of these 

 places it is found in climates differing as much as 20 

 in average temperature. The coffee plant will bear 

 extremes of climate better than most plants. In 

 Jamaica it is found on the Blue Mountain, upwards of 

 6000 feet above the sea, and in the East Indies it is 

 seen growing and producing at Coonoor on the Neil- 

 gherries at a similar elevation ; whilst, on the other 

 hand, it is also seen growing at the level of the sea, in 

 both hemispheres, a difference of average temperature 

 of from 20 to 30. It is contended that the coffee 

 produced at a high elevation is of a finer quality than 

 that grown in a warmer temperature ; this is, however, 

 very questionable. No coffee yet produced bears a 

 better character or realizes a higher price in the market 

 than Cannon' s Mysore ; this is certainly not more than 

 3500 feet, and the coffee produced at the extremes of 

 climate is always small, generally much lighter, and 

 the actual number of berries far less than that grown 

 in a genial climate. Experience has proved that from 



