48 SOIL AND CLIMATE. 



rich, dark earth, friable and mixed with blocks and small 

 stones. On the island of Java, to the contrary, where 

 some of the finest varieties are produced, the soil is prin- 

 cipally composed of a black leaf-mould, intermixed with 

 fine sand and small stones, whereas in the principal 

 Coffee-growing countries of the American continent the 

 best crops produced, as a general rule, are raised on rich, 

 dark loamy lands, the subsoil of which are too rocky to 

 be worked with a plow. The only exception to the rule 

 being Brazil, where the soil varies to a great extent, a 

 clay of terra rocha forming the chief upper and lower 

 subsoil. The most suitable soil for Coffee cultivation, 

 however, is that which grows soft timber, to be found on 

 high quartzy ridges, where the land is of a dark choco- 

 late color, mixed with small stones, and overspread here 

 and there with boulders of granite, as where the soil is 

 dark, loose and full of roots, it is sure to be rich in 

 organic matter, and therefore good for Coffee, which is a 

 hardy plant and not on the whole difficult to please in 

 this matter ; such a soil generally contains about 5 per 

 cent, of its weight of organic matter in combination with 

 other fertilizing substances. Looking at Coffee soil from 

 an analyst's standpoint, it consists of an organic part, 

 which when placed in the fire will burn away, arid an 

 inorganic or mineral part which will not burn. The 

 constitution of the first is well known to planters, being 

 formed of the remains of animals, insects, or minute 

 visible and invisible organisms of various kinds, from the 

 dung of animals, birds, caterpillars and worms, to that of 

 roots, stems and leaves of decayed vegetable matter. 

 The inorganic part, consisting of sand, clay, lime magne- 

 sia and the oxides of soda, potash and manganese, includ- 

 ing carbonic, sulphuric and phosphoric acids. The pre- 

 ponderance of one or more of these natural divisions, 



