390 COFFEE. 



October to A'pril, varying somewhat in different countries. That 

 made during the first two months is not as good as the quality 

 produced later, being green in color, and so cloudy (" louche," in 

 the vernacular of the trade), that no amount of refining can make 

 it brilliant. And this quality also becomes rancid quicker than 

 the finer oil. As a rule, the more thoroughly oil is refined and 

 the less trace of fruity sediment there is left in it, the better it 

 will keep. Oil should never be exposed to the heat or sun, and 

 consequently the show window of a grocery store is about as bad 

 a place to keep it in as can be found. Manufacturers find that it 

 keeps best in a cool, dry place, and the larger the quantity to- 

 gether in bulk, the better. Large earthen jars are used to some 

 extent for this purpose, and the larger manufacturers and dealers 

 frequently dig huge cisterns in the groimd, known as " Piles," 

 which are carefully cemented and then filled with oil, some of 

 them holding many thousands of gallons. 



There are doubtless many other points connected with this 

 subject which would be interesting if I could think of them, but 

 I have just jotted down, in a somewhat disjointed way, all that 

 have occurred to me as I wrote. It was said of Horace Greeley 

 that his first contributions for the press, although crude, were 

 attractive, because of their freshness and vigor, and I am there- 

 fore emboldened to send what I am well aware is a crude produc- 

 tion, relying upon my gi'ocer's eyes having seen, and my pen 

 having recorded, what may be of interest to the members of the 

 guild. 



SHEEBT ^ITS MAmjFACTTJEE, TEEATMENT, AOTJ CHAEACTEEISTICS. 



If there is one thing more than another which has surprised 

 me during my present trip, it has been to find how woefully igno- 

 rant I was of the whys and the wherefores connected with many of 

 the different staples in which I have been dealing for years, and in 

 legard to which I had professed to be an oracle, giving advice and 

 affording information which I now find, in most instances, I was 

 not qualified to give. Indeed, I think, as a rule, the average 

 grocer knows less about the origin of the goods in which he deals 

 than almost any other class of merchants. Perhaps this is due to 



