JAVA COFFEES. I35 



and at an expense of labor which one would suppose at 

 least equal to the renumeration. 



All the available mountain slopes on the island of 

 Java are literally covered with coffee plantations, owned 

 and operated by the Dutch government, which assigns 

 to each Javanese family the cultivation and care of from 

 600 to 1,000 trees under severe penalties, the natives 

 being compelled to deliver their crops, hulled and cleaned, 

 to the nearest government stores at the end of the harvest, 

 accepting in return whatever price the government is 

 pleased to put on it. Considerable coffee is, however, 

 cultivated by the natives themselves, independently of that 

 raised directly for the government, being chiefly grown 

 along the borders of the government plantations and 

 other unused patches, as well as along the fences around 

 their farms, being generally raised in the shade; the berry 

 of some of this coffee attains a high excellence rivalling 

 if not actually excelHng the government product in many 

 instances. 



A considerable portion of the peasantry having 

 — as already observed — been long accustomed to the 

 cultivation of coffee, it is owing to their skill and experi- 

 ence that the coffee owes its excellence as much as to any 

 direct knowledge, superintendence or interference of the 

 Dutch officials, who derive their information from the 

 natives, having little more to do than occasionally ride 

 around the plantations with a pompous suite, keep the 

 accounts and examine the coffee, as it is received from 

 the cultivators. The plantations are generally laid out in 

 squares, the distances between the plants varying accord- 

 ing to the fertility of the soil, that is, in a soil not con- 

 sidered fertile, a distance of six feet is preserved, and in 

 each interval is planted a " dadap " tree for the purpose 

 of affording shade to the plants; while in a rich soil where 



