140 COFFEE. 



gested ' seedlings ' as an appropriate term. I was told : ' No, no, 

 they are not seedlings ; a sucker does not become a seedling till 

 it is crowned.' This was still worse, and I had to give it up. 



" With regard to the absence of nurseries and the planting up 

 of land by weakly sown ' seedlings ' it seems a pity that so much 

 valuable land and so much time should be lost, when the remedy 

 is so simple. The plants thus put in are often two feet high, and 

 with several primaries {i. e., crowned, as I found afterward). 

 Their rootlets are torn and lacerated, and the check they thus re- 

 ceive in transplanting, and in being suddenly taken out from 

 shade and exposed to the fierce rays of a tropical sun, results 

 either in a large percentage being killed or in the plants being 

 two or three years before they produce a maiden crop. 



"But still, as the planters say, many of the plants do grow, 

 and when they do they produce some of the best coffee in the 

 world. 



" In color, the best Jamaica coffee is darker and bluer than 

 Ceylon coffee, and the beans smaller. Whether the color shows 

 a larger proportion of oil I know not, but the sample appears to 

 be greatly judged and valued according to color. The sample 

 sent reminds one, in the size of the beans, of Mocha coffee, only 

 the beans of the latter are generally of a dark yellow color. 

 Nearly all West Indian and Brazilian coffees are bluish or greenish 

 gray. 



" The color of the bean must depend in some measure on the 

 manner of pulping and drying, but, so far as I have noticed, the 

 processes in Jamaica, are much the same as in Ceylon, except that, 

 possibly, here the cherry is allowed to stand longer before it is 

 pulped. 



" But to return to the question of high prices — ^Why does 

 Jamaica coffee command such high prices ? This subject, and 

 especially in connection with Mocha coffee, must have occupied 

 the attention of coffee-planters ever since coffee-planting began, 

 but, so far, it appears not to have received a satisfactory solution. 

 Is it temperature, atmospheric pressure, natural fertility, humidity 

 of soil or air, amount of sunlight and excessive stimulation which 

 produces the perfect elaboration of those subtle principles upon 

 which the aroma and active qualities of coffee depend ? 



