COFFEE. 



35 



In Palembang the production was, in 1872, 9114 piculs; in 1873, 

 9757 ; in 1874, 13,000. 



In 1872 there were on the west coast of Sumatra 182,500,000 coffee 

 trees planted, of which 126,000,000 were bearing. The production 

 in that year was 90,819 piculs (133 lbs.). The produce of 1874 was 

 131,474 piculs, there being 4,825,000 more fruit-bearing trees. 



The following figures serve to show the progress in a district, 

 Ampat-Lawang, situate between Palembang and Bencoolen, having a 

 population of 22,000 souls, where the cultivation is free, the pro- 

 ducers being at liberty to sell their produce as they choose, and not 

 obliged to deliver it to the Government at a fixed price : 





Piculs. 





Piculs. 



1860 ,. . 



460 



1867 .. 



, 7,887 



1861 



713 



1868 



5,279 



1862 



. . . 1,697 



1869 



6,668 



1863 



2,869 



1870 



3,953 







1871 , 



. . . 8,465 



1865 .. . 



3,530 

 .. 4,729 



1872 , , . 



9,114 

 . .. 10,050 



1866 , , , 



1873 



Even in the higher regions of Bovenland and Padang, where the 

 cultivation is forced and the producers are bound to sell to the 

 Government, the coffee plantations have increased fourfold, notwith- 

 standing the inconvenience of the system. The Malays, finding it 

 conduces to their well-being, have acquired habits of order and labour, 

 and if the Colonial Government improves the means of transport, 

 accords facilities of trade, and improves the moral condition of the 

 people, there is yet a prosperous future before them. 



The formation of regular coffee plantations by the natives was 

 commenced in Celebes in 1822. By the beginning of 1855 there 

 were more than 5,000,000 coffee trees planted in Minahassa, but 

 not all planted are yet bearing. In some districts the produce 

 is as much as 2 to 4 lbs. per tree, while in others it is only from 

 a half to three-quarters of a pound. The general character of the 

 coffee is not very good, little care being given to the preparation ; but 

 the quality of the beans from Menado is better, and of a palish green. 

 The annual forced delivery of coffee to the Government at 15 florins 

 the picul, between 1838 and 1842, only reached about 1,300,000 lbs. 

 per annum. 



At Timor the Portuguese are encouraging the culture of coffee, 

 and the best results are expected from the plantations made, although 

 as yet the yield is small. The production was in 1862, 183,000 lbs. 



Fifty coffee trees are found in the course of four or five years to 

 yield here 1 J cwt. of coffee ; but it is only by purchasing the coffee 

 from the natives that the authorities can get coffee production ex- 

 tended. At Amboyna some 50,000 trees have been planted. 



Coffee in tJie PJiilippines. — The export of coffee from Manila was in 

 1864, 37,845 piculs of IJ cwt., and in 1874, 45,842 piculs. The 

 value of the coffee exported in 1872 was stated at ^869,000,000, and 

 in 1873 at Kl,126,000,000. This coffee is quite equal to that of 

 Java ; the beans are medium sized, and of a pale-greenish colour. 



The plant thrives wonderfully in the Philippines, and its berry 



D 2 



