180 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



passage was very tedious and stormy ; water began to fail, and 

 all the gods seemed to conspire against the introduction of 

 the coffee-tree into the New World. But Descleux patiently 

 endured the extremity of thirst that his tender shoots might 

 not droop for want of water, and succeeded in safely bringing 

 over one single plant, the parent stock whence all the vast 

 coffee-plantations of America are said to have derived their 

 origin. 



On examining the present state of coffee-production through- 

 out the world, we find that the European markets obtain their 

 cliief supplies from Brazil, Java, Ceylon, and the West Indies ; 

 but with regard to quality, Mocha coffee, though comparatively 

 insignificant in point of quantity, is still prominent in flavour 

 and aroma. 



When left to the free growth of nature, the coffee-tree 

 attains a height of from fifteen to twenty feet ; in the plan- 

 tations, however, the tops are generally cut off in order to 

 promote the growth of the lower branches, and to facilitate 

 the gathering of the crop. Its leaves are opposite, evergreen, 

 and not unlike those of the bay-tree ; its blossoms are white, 

 sitting on short footstalks, and resembling the flower of the 

 jasmine. The fruit which succeeds is a green berry, ripening 

 into red, of the size and form of a large cherry, and liaving a 

 pale, insipid, and somewhat glutinous pulp, enclosing two hard 

 and oval seeds or beans, which are too well known to require 

 any further description. 



The seeds are known to be ripe when the berries assume a 

 dark red colour, and if not then gathered, will drop from the 

 trees. 



To be cultivated to advantage, the coffee-tree requires a 

 climate where the mean temperature of the year amounts 

 to 68°, and where the thermometer never falls below 55>°. It 

 is by nature a forest tree requiring shade and moisture, and 

 thus it is necessary to screen it from the scorching rays of 

 tlie sun by planting rows of umbrageous trees at certain 

 intervals throughout the field. These also serve to protect 

 it from the sharp winds which would injure the blossoms. It 

 cannot bear either excessive heat or a long-continued drought, 

 and where rain does not fall in sufficient quantity, artificial 

 irrigation must supply it with the necessary moisture. 



