40 



COFFEE. 



The progressive increase in coffee production in Ceylon is shown 

 by the following figures of the exports at decennial periods : 



Cwts. ' Cwts. 



1836 60,329 I 1866 899,480 



18-16 173,892 1875 967,700 



1856 445,568 1 



In each of the two years, 1868 and 1870, the shipments exceeded 

 one million cwts. 



In commencing coffee planting the fii'st step is the selection of 

 ground. A virgin forest soil on the slopes of the mountains about 

 3000 feet above the level of the sea is most suitable. A con- 

 venient spot should next be chosen for a nursery to be planted with 

 seed or parchment coffee. The forest should then be cut down, lopped, 

 and in five or six weeks burnt. When the clearing and roads are 

 finished, the ground should be lined, holed, and planted with plants 

 from the nm'sery, which will be then from nine to twelve months 

 old. During the growth of the plants the ground must be kept cleai' 

 of weeds, and the buildings for machinery, according to a good plan, 

 should be at once commenced. By the time these buildings, together 

 with the machinery, are erected (say three years) the coffee is ready 

 to be picked. The next operation, and by far the first in importance, 

 is pulping the coffee. The machine most extensively used is an 

 Improved Pulper, manufactured by John Gordon and Co., London, 

 who have for many years supplied the Ceylon and Indian planters 

 with this and every other kind of coffee machinery. The coffee is 

 run into the pulper by means of a stream of water. Here the pulp 

 is separated from the seeds, which fall into a cistern, where they 

 remain from eighteen to twenty-four hours without water. After this 

 time has elapsed the cistern is supplied with rimning water, and all 

 the glutinous matter is by this means washed away. On some planta- 

 tions a washing machine is used. It is then dried, by a machine 

 made for the purpose, or in the sun. Having been stored away for 

 two or three weeks it is again placed in the sun to finish diying. 

 This is comjDleted if the bean crack freely between the teeth, and it 

 is not until then ready for the peeling mill, which removes the parch- 

 ment and silver skin from the bean. It is next passed through the 

 fan or ventilator into a sizing machine (about eighteen feet in length), 

 which takes out the broken coffee and sej)arates the beans into different 

 sizes. This not only causes the coflee to roast equally (a quality 

 which raises its value in the market), but also separates the pea-berry, 

 or round coffee, which brings a much higher price. 



Mr. W. Sabonadiere, an old planter, speaking of the best elevation ~ 

 above the sea at which coffee shou.ld be j)lanted, states that in Ceylon 

 undoubtedly that from 2000 to 3500 feet is the best, but climate has 

 also a good deal to do with it. Coffee grows well at Kaigalle, 

 Kornegalle, and in the Doombera valley between 800 and 1500 feet 

 above the sea. In Oavah coffee bears well at between 4000 and 

 5000 feet above the sea, owing to the dry air and climate ; while, 

 on the more western side of the island, at the same elevation, 

 it either bears only 2 or 3 cwts. an acre, is a mass of leaves, or 



