64 



COFFEE. 



Hayii, which, owed its former prosperity to coffee, has not yet again 

 attained to the quantity it used to produce when a French colony. 

 In 1789 the coffee crop there was 80,000,000 lbs. The trees were 

 almost entirely destroyed in subsequent years. In 1826 the pro- 

 duction had, however, recovered to 32,000,000 lbs. ; in 1860 it had 

 advanced to 50,000,000 lbs., and in 1863 to 68,140,752 lbs. ; but there 

 appears to be now a retrogression, for the shipments in the year 

 ending September, 1874, were only 54,513,000 lbs. 



Cuba was at one time a large coffee-producing island, for in 1847 

 there were 2064 plantations under culture with this crop. From 1830 

 to 1840, the annual production was about 2,000,000 arrobas of 25 lbs. 

 From the year 1841 to 1846, the average yearly production was 

 45,236,100 lbs. In 1851, owing to the fall in price of coffee, and the 

 more remunerative character of sugar and tobacco production, the crop 

 had declined to 13,000,000 lbs. ; in 1864 the export of coffee fell far 

 below this, and now Cuba imports large supplies of coffee from Porto 

 Eico. 



In Porto JRico the coffee crop now averages about 230,000 cwts. 

 In 1839 the shipments were only 85,384 cwts.; in 1861, 129,000 cwts.; 

 and in 1873, 270,895 cwts. 



The cultivation of coffee has increased of late years, and might be 

 much extended on land now almost unproductive, on the hills and 

 valleys of the table-lands. The coffee of Porto Rico is of excellent 

 quality; though not well known in the English markets, it is much 

 appreciated in Spain and Italy, and even now exported to the value 

 of 900,000Z. A considerable quantity is grown in the province of 

 Ponce, but it is also raised in the provinces of Mayaguez, Arecibo, 

 and Aguadilla. 



St. Lucia, Dominica, and St. Vincent should be great coffee pro- 

 ducers on their mountain slopes, and Nevis and St. Kitts on a lesser 

 scale. St. Lucia used to have 500 acres under culture with coffee, and 

 in 1840 exported 324,000 lbs. In 1829 Grenada shipped 64,654 lbs. 

 In 1796 there were 130 coffee plantations in Trinidad, and the ^pro- 

 duce there, in 1803, was 358,660 lbs. The export from Trinidad has 

 averaged 24,000 lbs. in each of the four years ending 1875, but it is 

 not likely to attain to the former proportions grown, even with the 

 increased care and attention given to the culture, for the South 

 American competition is too strong. 



At the close of the last century Dominica produced more than 

 2,000,000 lbs. of coffee annually ; even in 1833 the shipments 

 were 1,612,528 lbs., and in 1835 over 1,000,000 lbs,, but the 

 general effect of the negro emancipation was the entire abandon- 

 ment of coffee cultivation by the owners under whose care and energy 

 they had hitherto been such brilliant mines of wealth. The estates 

 were appropriated, subdivided, and allotted among the peasantry, 

 who took up the production of sugar, cacao, cassava, and other 

 cultures. 



Production in America. — Having passed under review the several 

 West Indian islands, I come now to speak of Central and Southern 

 America, which are extensive and increasing fields of coffee pro- 



