126 DICTIONARY OF POPULAR NAMES COFFEE 



with him a Levantine girl, who married his coachman, and in 

 1652 they opened the first public coffee shop in London. With 

 regard to the history of the introduction of the Coffee tree into 

 America, it is stated that a living plant was obtained by the 

 Dutch and placed in the Botanic Garden, Amsterdam, where it 

 was propagated, and a plant was conveyed to the Dutch settle- 

 ment of Surinam. One of the Amsterdam plants was in 1714 

 presented to Louis XIY., by whom it was introduced into 

 Martinique in 1717. From these plants the cultivation of Coffee 

 spread throughout the warm countries of America and the West 

 Indies, also in time in Ceylon and India, where it is now ex- 

 tensively cultivated. The principal supply of Coffee to this 

 country is from the West Indies, British Guiana, Brazil, Ceylon, 

 and India. The Coffee of the shops in course of time became 

 greatly adulterated, the principal adulterant being the ground 

 roots of chicory, which led to an Act of Parliament being passed 

 to make the adulteration of Coffee by cliicory, or any other 

 adulterant, a statutable offence. Sixty years ago (1820), when 

 genuine Coffee was high priced (3 to 4 shillings a pound), roasted 

 corn under the name of " Kent's Eoasted Corn " was sold in 

 London, and was patronised for some time. The number of 

 Coffee trees in Brazil is computed to amount to 530,000,000, 

 covering a surface of 1,150,000 square acres, and it is calculated 

 that Coffee is now used by 100,000,000 of the human race. In 

 1880 the quantity of Coffee from all countries imported into this 

 country was 1,555,939 cwts., valued at £7,062,016. Of late 

 years the Coffee crops, especially in Ceylon and India, have 

 become much deteriorated from the ravages of a disease 

 termed the Coffee Blight, which is caused by a fungus {Hemi- 

 leia vastatinx) spreading over the leaves. It first appears with 

 rapid grow^th within the parenchymatous tissue of the leaf; 

 the perfect fungus is developed on its under-side ; its fruit is 

 composed of numerous clusters of orange -coloured sporangia, 

 which protrude through the stomata (that is, the breathing spores 

 of the leaf), and entirely destroy the functions ; the trees then 

 become sick, and failure of crops is the consequence. It spreads 



