THE SOUTIIEKN PLANTER. 



517 



Coffee. 



The use of coffee has become ypvy general 

 throughout the civilized world, and has of late 

 years^become a necessary of life, instead of, as 

 in the last century, merely a luxury. The 

 events of the French Revolution had a great 

 effect upon the growth of coffee, since Hayti, 

 which was one of the chief places of produc- 

 tion, was nearly ruined by the event. Never- 

 theless, up to 1825, Cuba, St. Domingo, the 

 British West Indies and Java were the most 

 important sources of supply. At that date the 

 superior advantages of sugar in Cuba caused 

 them to neglect coffee, and the crop of that Is- 

 land has fallen from 65,000,000 ft)s to less than 

 12,000,000 K)s, and the product in the other 

 West Indies has declined from various causes, 

 like emancipation in Jamaica, &c. At the 

 same time the crop of Java, being stimulated 

 by the exertions of the Dutch Company great- 

 ly increased. By far the greatest increase has, 

 however, taken place in Brazil. The coffee of 

 that region was not liked so well as that of 

 some others, owing to defects in the mode of 

 cleaning, until about 1845, since when the pro- 

 duct has grown to equal that of half the whole 

 supply. 



The production of coffee has been as follows, 

 at different periods : 



1841. 



Brazil, Ibl60,000,000 

 Java, 112,000,000 

 Sumatra 12,000,000 

 St. Domingo 25,000,000 

 Cuba and 



Porto Rico 56,000,000 

 West Indies 18,000,000 

 Mocha and 



Manilla 10,000,000 

 Ceylon 10,000,000 

 Laguayra and 



Costa Rica 27,000,000 



1852. 



300,000,000 

 120,000,000 

 8,000.000 

 30,000,000 



25.000,000 

 7,000,000 



3,000,000 

 30,000,000 



1857. 



300,000,000 

 139,250,000 

 7.000,000 

 45,000,000 



35,750,000 

 17,000,000 



25,500,000 

 56,250,000 



25,000.000 45,000,000 



Total 



430,000,000 548,000,000 730,750.000 



The most marked increase in this production 

 is in Brazil, and various circumstances have 

 conspired to produce that result. The climate 

 was found to be most congenial, the tree yield- 

 ing double that of the West Indies. The slave 

 trade was very active, and the blacks could be 

 sold on long credits at $200 @ ^300 each, and 

 at the same time an improved mode of prepar- 

 ing the coffee for market had removed some of 

 the objections to the Brazil article in Europe. 

 The entire stoppage of the slave trade in 1850 

 involved a rise of two hundred per cent, in 

 blacks, and seriously checked the growth of the 

 plant. Nevertheless, the growth of the crop 

 in the Brazils is more rapid than elsewhere, 

 under the influence of the same general causes. 

 The supply is everywhere checked by the inef- 

 ficient means of preparing the berries for mar- 

 ket. The coffee berry contains two seeds cov- 

 ered with a gummy, mucilaginous substance, 



and enclosed in a skin, which is thick, sweet 

 and dark red when ripe. The mod^ pursued 

 by the Brazilians is to dry the beaias with the 

 skin on, and in the process the skifi becomes 

 dark, and finally black and crisp. It is then 

 rubbed off and the bean washed. In this pro- 

 cess great danger of fermentation is incurred. 

 This is avoided by the English, French and 

 Belgians, who own the best plantations, by the 

 use of improved machinery. It may be re- 

 marked that the skin of the berries is as rich 

 in saccharine matter as the sugar cane, and 

 could be profitably worked by the use of ap- 

 propriate machinery. The coffee plant will 

 grow from seed, but is mostly propagated by 

 young plants, which are taken off at two years 

 old and planted in good soil. It bears on the 

 fourth year, but gives a regular crop on the 

 fifth — two to three lbs. per tree. Ten years is 

 the average life of the tree. The picking com- 

 mences in July, and concludes by the end of 

 August. 



The culture in Arabia Felix is extensive, and 

 the crop is gathered by spreading cloths under 

 the trees. The fruit is then shaken into them, 

 and the berries are then dried on mats, when 

 they ave passed under a heavy roller. They 

 are then winnowed and again dried. The 

 Arabs make a decoction of the pulp, which 

 they call Sultan's coffee, and it is an agreeable 

 and refreshing beverage. The qualities of cof- 

 fee as they come upon the raarket<sii'e in some 

 degree known by their derivation. That of 

 Mocha has the first rank. The beans are small 

 in general and round. Some of them are, how- 

 ever, large and flat. They have a yellow or 

 greenish color. They have a strong perfume 

 and a more agreeable flavor than any other spe- 

 cies. It requires an exercised taste to distin - 

 guish the true Mocha. 



The manner of gathering the berry, and its 

 preparation, is thus described in Tomlinson\s 

 Cyclopcedia of Useful Arts : 



In Arabia, planters spread cloths under the 

 trees, and by shaking the ripe berries drop on 

 them. In the west Indies the berries are pick- 

 ed by negroes. In curing coffee it is some- 

 times usual to expose the berries to the sun's 

 rays, in layers five or six inches deep, on a 

 platform. The pulp ferments in a few days, 

 and thus having thrown off a strong acidulous 

 moisture, dries gradutilly during about three 

 weeks. The husks are afterwards separated 

 from the seeds in a mill. 



" Other planters remove the pulp from the 

 seeds as soon as the berries are gathered. The 

 pulping mill used for this purpose consists of u 

 horizontal fluted roller, turned by a crank and 

 acting against a moveable breast board, so 

 placed as to prcvertt the passage of whole ber- 

 ries between itself and the roller. The pulp 

 is then separated from the seeds by crushing 

 them, and the latter are spread out in the sun 

 to dry them. lb is then necessary to remove 

 the membranous skin or parchment, which is 



