COFFEE. 37 



Years. Ibs. 



1845 34,318,095 717,871 



1846 '. 36,793,061 756,838 



1847 37,441,373 746,436 



1848 37,106,292 710,270 



1849 34,431,074 643,210 



1850 31,226,840 566,822 



1851 32,564,164 445,739 



1852 35,044,376 438,084 



I estimated, in a little treatise on coffee and its adulterations, 

 which I published in 1850, that not less than 18,000,000 Ibs. of vege- 

 table matter of va^ous kinds were sold annually under the deceptive 

 name of coffee. Three-fourths of these 18,000,000 Ibs. of pre- 

 tended coffee were composed of chicory, and the remaining fourth 

 of other ingredients prejudicial to health, as well as a fraud upon 

 the revenue. The various substances used in adulterating both 

 chicory and coffee, when sold in the powdered state, have been 

 specifically pointed out and set forth from time to time in memo- 

 rials from the trade and the coffee-growers. Mr. M'Culloch and 

 other competent judges set down the actual consumption of 

 chicory in the United Kingdom at 12,500 tons per annum. When 

 we consider the vast difference of price between chicory and 

 coffee, as purchased by the wholesale dealer, the temptation to 

 its fraudulent use was obviously great, and there was no penal 

 restriction against it. 



It will be interesting and useful to trace the history of the 

 trade in chicory from its first introduction. 



The substitution of chicory for coffee occasioned a loss to the 

 revenue of three hundred thousand pounds sterling a-year, 

 besides its mischievous effect in adulterating and debasing a 

 popular beverage when used in such large and undue proportions 

 for admixture, and sold at the price of coffee. 



Since the prohibition of the admixture of chicory with coffee, 

 when sold to the public, and the compulsory sale by Treasury 

 minute of the two articles in separate packages, a large and rapid 

 increase in the consumption of coffee has taken place, and 

 the trade is now placed in a healthy position. Whilst the 

 increase in the consumption of coffee from the 1st of January, 

 to 5th September, 1852, was but 142,267 Ibs. as compared with 

 the same period of 1851 ; the increase in the remaining four 

 months of the year was to the amazing extent of 2,350,368 Ibs. 

 This increased consumption is likely to continue, and our colonial 

 possessions are furnishing us with larger proportionate supplies, 

 as may be seen by the following figures : 



TOTAL IMPORTS OF COFFEE IN 



1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 



Produce of British Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. Ibs. 



Possessions.. 35,970,507 40,339,245 36,814,036 35,972,163 42,519,297 

 Ditto foreign 



countries . . 21,082,943 22,976,542 13,989,116 17,138,497 11,857,957 



Total 57,0-33,150 63,315,787 50,803,152 53,110,660 54,377,254 



