186 COFFEE. 



many years and the parallel discouragement of production had 

 now reversed the position. The dispirited dog was now lapsing 

 behind the game. Java, which in 1855 produced 76,596 tons 

 (the largest crop ever known), barely kept up to previous averages, 

 while consumption was still on a rapid increase. Brazil, it is true, 

 had suffered no interruption to the development of her coffee cul- 

 ture, having had the good fortune of ministering to the growing 

 wants of our prosperous republic ; but the fast-swelling millions 

 of this country would have continued to absorb any increase of 

 her product. " The world would not," says the same authority, 

 "have had coffee enough. The American war prevented this 

 deficiency, which, without the large Brazil crop of 1866, would 

 have been enormous." I am not prepared either to support or 

 combat the foregoing opinion. The question is a complex and, 

 at best, a theoretical one, requiring more study than it has been 

 in my power to bestow upon it. I have merely stated this view 

 of the matter as one in the light of which ft may be curious to 

 consider subsequent events in our coffee market and in Europe. 



Our record of prices for the New York market opens with the 

 year succeeding the financial panic of 1857. 



— 1858 — 



During this year the prices of coffee other than Java ruled 

 lower than for several previous years. The average cost of fair 

 to prime Eio in 1857 was ll.Oi cents, and in 1858, 10.96 cents. 

 The fluctuations in Brazil were between 9^ @ lOf cents, and lOf 

 @ 12 cents, for fair to prime ; St. Domingo, 7f @ 10 cents ; 

 Maracaibo and Laguayra, lOJ @ 14 cents. The changes in Java 

 were more marked, the lowest price being 13^ cents ; the highest, 

 20 cents. At the opening of the year Java sold at 15^ @ 16^ 

 cents, reached 20 cents in March, and declined in November to 

 IB^ @ 14 cents — the low prices stimulating speculation. 



— 1859 — 



The market for all grades was remarkably steady, the prices 

 of Java being confined within a variation of 2^ cents ; Brazil, f @ 

 1 cent ; St. Domingo, 2^ @ 2^ cents j and Maracaibo, 1^ cent. 

 Higher prices were obtained for Brazil coffee in November and 



