CHAPTER II 



COFFEE. Coffea arahica. Coffea liberica. 

 Coffee was formerly crrown very extensively in the West Decline of 



,. , . . . „ , . . , coffee culti- 



Indies, but ownig prnicipally to the great attention paid to vation in the 

 sugar cultivation, the exports have become comparatively ^^^^ indies, 

 small. In Dominica, the coffee planters were ruined in 

 the early part of this century, by a blight which killed out 

 their trees, and it is only since Liberian coffee has been 

 introduced that there seems a chance for the revival of the 

 industry, as the blight does not affect this species. 



The Arabian or common coffee plant came originally from Where the 

 the mountains of Abyssinia, and it was from thence carried camrf?om. 

 to Arabia, and later on, to all parts of the tropical world. 

 Liberian coffee was discovered, a few years ago, in 

 the forests of the West coast of Africa, and it has been 

 introduced into the West Indies and elsewhere from the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew. 



Soil. — As the coffee tree has a long tap root, it will thrive 

 only on land where the soil is deep. The best soil is a well 

 drained, loamy one, but the plant is hardy and it will grow The plant a 

 in any soil except stiff, heavy clay and poor sands. Dr. ^^ ^^^'^^ 

 Browne in his " Natural History of Jamaica" says of coffee, 

 ' The tree will grow and thrive in almost every soil about 

 the mountains of Jamaica, and even in the driest spots has 

 frequently produced very abundant crops." A rocky soil 

 where the earth is deep between the rocks, is very suitable, s^°[able.°* 

 and less manuring is then required for the plants, as the 



