COFFEE TREE. 



taken without sugar or milk, the slightest dif- 

 ference in the flavour is perceptible ; and long 

 experience having shown this to be the best 

 way of preserving it in perfection, it is per- 

 haps worth mentioning in detail, particularly 

 as the use of this article has become so 

 general." 



COFFEE TREE (Gymnocladus Canadensis}. 

 This native North American tree is found as 

 high northward as Upper Canada beyond Mon- 

 treal, and on the southern shores of Lakes Erie 

 and Ontario. It is, however, much less abun- 

 dant in these climes than in the states of Ken- 

 tucky and Tennessee, and in the tract watered 

 by the Ohio and Illinois rivers, between the 

 35th and 40th degrees of latitude. 



By the French of Canada this tree is called 

 Chicot ; by those of the Illinois Gros Fevier, 

 whilst the inhabitants of the Western States 

 call it Coffee Tree. 



The presence of this tree, is an evidence of 

 the richest lands, on which it habitually grows 

 in company with the black walnut, red elm, 

 poplar, blue ash, honey locust, and hackberry. 

 These trees it equals in height, but not in bulk; 

 for a coffee tree fifty or sixty feet high does not 

 generally exceed twelve or fifteen inches in 

 diameter. "In summer," says Michaux, "this 

 tree when fully grown has a fine appearance : 

 its straight trunk is often destitute of branches 

 for thirty feet, and supports a summit not very 

 widely spread, but of a regular shape and of 

 tufted foliage ; such at least is its form in pri- 

 mitive forests, where it is confined by the trees 

 which grow around it. In the winter when its 

 leaves are fallen, the fewness of its branches 

 and the size of the terminal ones, which are 

 very large in comparison with those of other 

 trees, give it a peculiar appearance, somewhat 

 resembling a dead tree, which it retains in the 

 spring long after other trees are clothed in 

 foliage. This is probably the reason of its 

 being called Chicot, stump tree, by the French 

 Canadians. To this peculiar character is 

 added another of the epidermis, which is ex- 

 tremely rough, and which detaches itself in 

 small, hard, transverse strips, rolled backward 

 at the ends, and projecting sufficiently to ren- 

 der the tree distinguishable at first sight. I 

 have also remarked that the live bark is very 

 bitter, so that a morsel no bigger than a grain 

 of maize chewed for some time produces a 

 violent irritation of the throat." 



The foliage of the coffee tree bears some 

 resemblance to that of the black walnut. The 

 flowers are white, and the fruit consists of 

 large bean-like crooked pods, of a reddish 

 brown colour, and of a pulpy consistency 

 within. They contain several large, gray 

 3eds, which are extremely hard. The French 

 TL\ Upper Louisiana call them Gourganes. 



" The name of the coffee tree was given by 

 the early emigrants to Kentucky and Tennes- 

 see, who hoped to find in its seeds a substitute 

 for coffee: but the small number of persons 

 who made the experiment abandoned it, as 

 soon as it became easy to obtain from the sea- 

 ports the coffee of the West Indies. 



" The wood of the coffee tree is very com- 

 pact and of a rosy hue. The fineness and 

 346 



COINS, FOREIGN. 



closeness of its grain fit for cabin "H -making, 

 and its strength renders it proper for building. 

 Like the locust, it has the valuable property of 

 rapidly converting its sap into perfect wood, 

 so that a trunk six inches in diameter has only 

 six lines of sap, and may be employed almost 

 entire. These qualities recommend it for pro- 

 pagation in the forests of the north and of the 

 centre of Europe. 



"The coffee tree was sent to France more 

 than fifty years since. It thrives in the envi- 

 rons of Paris, where there are trees that ex- 

 ceed forty feet in height ; but it does not yield 

 fruit, and is multiplied only by shoots obtained 

 by digging trenches round the old trees. The 

 divided roots produce shoots three or four feet 

 long, the first year. The young trees are 

 sought, on account of their beautiful foliage, 

 for the embellishment of parks and pictu- 

 resque gardens." 



A communication from Mr. M. D. Hardin, 

 of Franklin county, Kentucky, published in, 

 the American Farmer (vol. 2), makes us ac- 

 quainted with some interesting facts relative to 

 the sensible properties of the fruit of the coffee 

 tree, and its effects when eaten. 



The subjoined preparation of the nut of the 

 native coffee bean tree, or pea locust tree, 

 "has," says Mr. Hardin, "been found to de- 

 stroy flies more certainly than any preparation 

 I ever saw. It is now used by many in this 

 neighbourhood. I never heard of it until this 

 season. There is no danger to children or any 

 animal from the preparation. I have bees fa- 

 miliar with the nut for more than thirty years ; 

 it grew in my father's yard, and is in abun- 

 dance in my wood pastures. I have several 

 times eaten the kernel of the nut raw, but 

 never of many at a time when roasted many 

 are fond of them, and I have eaten a good many 

 that way, I have never myself seen them used 

 for coffee, but have heard of their being so 

 used as a matter of curiosity not of choice or 

 economy. The cattle eat the pods including the 

 nuts in the winter, as they do the wild honey 

 locust pods; but the nut owing to its hard 

 shell does not digest, but passes off whole. I 

 have known children eat the green glutinous 

 matter within the pod, as they would that of 

 the wild honey locust, but it brings on sickness 

 and puking. The nut itself is so well under- 

 stood to be harmless and eatable, that the cof- 

 fee-mill has been most usually made use of to 

 prepare the nut for the flies. 



" For destroying flics. Take the nuts of the 

 native pea locust or coffee-nut tree, crack them 

 and take out the kernel raw; reduce them to 

 meal or powder (a coffee-mill or mortar are 

 commonly used), put this into as much sweet 

 milk as would make it into a paste. To this 

 add some sugar to make the flies more readily 

 eat it, put it into a plate or other vessel, and 

 set it where you want to destroy the flies." 



COFFIN-BONE. In farriery, that bone 

 which lies encircled within a horse's hoof as 

 in a coffin. 



COINS, FOREIGN. The following tables 

 will show the values and weights of various 

 foreign coins in federal money of the United 

 States : 



