COFFEE. 



31 



In Mexico — C. Mexicana, ohovata, and rosea. In New Granada, — 

 C. spicata. In Pern — C. nitida, racemosa, suhsessilis, umhellafa, verti- 

 cillata, longifolia, foveolata, cil'iata, and acuminata. 



In tlie East Indies we have, in India, C. semiexerta, tetranda, 

 Travancorensis, Wightiana ; in Java, C. densijlora and G. Indica ; in tlie 

 Moluccas, G. peduncidata. 



In tlie Sandwich Islands, G. Gliamissonis and G. Kadiiana. 



In Africa, the original Goffea Arahica in Arabia and Abyssinia; 

 ■ G. laurina in Sierra Leone ; G. Liherica in Liberia ; and G. Mozam- 

 bicana and Zanguebarica in other parts. 



Cultivation. — The coffee tree succeeds in countries in which the 

 temperature does not fall below 55°, but is very commonly raised in 

 greenhouses in various parts of Europe and North America. It may 

 be cultivated as far as 36° N. lat., where the mean temperature is 

 about 70°. Within the tropics coffee thrives best at an elevation of 

 1200 to 3000 feet, and rarely grows above 6000 feet. In Jamaica 

 and Ceylon it is found to withstand cold well in the high mountain 

 ranges, and bears a large, plump, and aromatic berry. It takes its 

 name from Coffa, a south-vv^estern province of Abyssinia, of which it 

 is a native, and the common name is almost the same in all languages 

 to which it has spread. 



Coffee is now largely cultivated in many of the States of Central and 

 Southern America, in several of the West Indian islands, in different 

 parts of the eastern and western coasts of Africa and the adjacent 

 islands, in the Peninsula of India, Ceylon, and the islands of the 

 Eastern Ai'chipelago and the Pacific. 



The trees are usually raised from seeds in nurseries, and afterwards 

 planted out at regular distances, which vary according to the nature 

 of the soil. Plantations are made chiefly on hills and the skii-ts of 

 mountains, and if possible where the soil is moist and shaded. In dry 

 and gravelly soils the coffee trees seldom grow higher than six feet, 

 and may be planted five feet apart ; but in rich soils, where they 

 attain the height of nine or ten feet or more, the plants should not be 

 so crowded, and intervals of eight or ten feet should be left between 

 them. If not pruned they would rise to the height of sixteen or 

 eighteen feet, but they are generally dwarfed to five feet for the con- 

 venience of gathering the fruit with greater ease, and also to prevent 

 their running to wood. Thus dwarfed they extend their branches 

 laterally, so that they cover the whole spot round about them. The 

 trees produce fruit when they are two years old, and in the third or 

 fourth year they are in full bearing. The produce of a good tree is 

 from one and a half to two pounds of berries. 



With the same infirmities that most other trees are subject to, 

 coffee trees are likewise in danger of being destroyed by the borer and 

 other insects, and by the scorching rays of the sun. In the West 

 Indies and some other parts large umbrageous trees, of various kinds, 

 are planted in rows at intervals throughout a coffee plantation, to 

 afford a shade and shelter to the young plants. 



Coffee trees flourish in hilly districts where the subsoil is gravelly, 

 for the roots will strike down and obtain nourishment, so as to keep 

 the tree alive and fruitful for thirty years. This is, however, about 



