In reply to yours of 31st ultimo, we ^ive you for what thoy are 

 worth the following remarks on coffee. 



After a period of comparatively ] w prices, the value of this product 



(plantation sort-) have remained fairly steady. We look upon the 

 position oft! -'•.,•' kii.d o eolVee. which is rliat which a European 



Ceylon an. i East India having fallen oil' (in the former case they have 

 almost entirely ceased), and their place being onlv \ erv imperfectly 

 filled hy the 'finer coffees from Costa V . ,, (in tei ila, A..-., opr-ci II) 

 Vera Paz and New Grenada. Among the British Colonies the West 

 India Islands, or some of them, Trinidad, Dominica, and Jamaica, offer 

 perhaps ihc 1) -I iield for the cultivation of thi- product, the very serious 

 'Iil\ the difficulty in obtaining an adequate supply 

 of labour. Fortunately the requirements in this respect are not so grea't 

 with colfc^ as with some other prod nets, as after the ground has once 



year, their yearly crop of fruit, var\ iug in (piautity and quality according 

 to the season and to the care bestowed on them. The number of hands 

 required i-, of course, much larger during crop time than during the 

 rest of the year, but a good deal of the picking, &c. is done in many 

 parts by women and children. 



The machinery required for preparing the bean for market is not 

 expensive, especially when there is sufficient water power available to 

 work it, and no drying power beyond that of the sun is required for 

 drying the produce The climate in the higher parts of Jamaica i- very 



the centre of the island there are large districts in which land very well 

 suited to the cultivation of c lice may be obtained, though there is. we 

 believe, tin- d : <:i bantago. that Ikovij crop- are not obtained in the very 

 highest altitudes more than about once in three years. The difficulty, 

 as we have said before, may be the securing a sufficient amount of 

 reliable labour, but this is a difficulty common, we think, to almost every 

 part of the globe, and, at the present time, t .» all industries. If this can 

 be surmounted, as we doubt not it can be to a sufficient extent, with 

 care and energy, we should consider that a young Englishman, with 

 some knowledge of outdoor work, and with an inclination towards a 

 planter's life, would have the prospect of a good future before him in 



to buy. clear, and plant his land', and to keep his estate going for the four 

 or live years before payable crop- rr.n be harvested, without having to 

 borrow for the purpose at a heavy rate of interest. 



The statistical position you have doubtless already before you. 

 Notwithstao ^ dining the past few 



years as compared with the previous production from that place, there 

 has been little or no accumulation ot stock at the c» u.-uming centres of 

 the world, while dealers in the finest descriptions find frequently 

 considerable difficulty in satisfying their requirements. 



We are, &c. 

 D. Morris, Esq., C.M.G., (Signed) Lewis and Peat. 



Royal Gardens, Kew. 



