262 COFFEE I ITS CULTIVATION AND PROFIT. 



the sun, are put in holes and allowed to take their chance 

 without shade or shelter, 



" As far as I have noticed, there is little disease on any 

 of the cultivated plants of Jamaica. With the exception of the 

 Cemiostoma coffeeilum, a little leaf miner similar to the Gracilaria 

 coffeefoliella (Nietner) of Ceylon, which cause the silvery tor- 

 tuous markings and blotches on Coffee-leaves, Jamaica Coffee 

 appears to be very free from disease. Our old friend the black 

 bug is here, but it does not give annoyance except sometimes 

 to badly cultivated and young Coffee." 



Yet this year he speaks discouragingly of Jamaica 

 prospects. He mentions how, owing to the pre- 

 valence of comparative drought in the island for 

 the last four years, Coffee in Manchester and in 

 the lower hills, where settlers grow it, has suffered 

 very severely. There is consequently a serious 

 falling-off in the exports. While in 1883 there 

 were exported 84,358 cwts. of Coffee of the value 

 of 160,618, in 1884 the exports were only 48,378 

 cwts. of the value of 98,842. This is in quantity 

 less than in any year since 1869. The Coffee 

 industry will no doubt improve its position with 

 the return of favourable seasons ; but I fear, owing 

 to the low prices which have been ruling for some 

 years in this article, the settlers are gradually 

 relinquishing the cultivation, and where fields are 

 partially worn out, as in many districts of Man- 

 chester, they are being entirely abandoned. 



Seventy-five years after the introduction of Coffee 

 into Hayti the island exported nearly eighty millions 

 of pounds per annum. 



