302 



demned as objectionable on the ground that the plant had done well 

 in Perak, and the statement would deter planters from planting it. 

 The cultivation, however, soon entirely failed and it is^ doubtful if 

 there is an acre of Arabian Coffee cultivated for profit in any part 

 of the Peninsula to-day. 



Liberian Coffee. — On the discovery of Liberian Coffee in 1875 

 and its introduction by Mr. MURTON to the Malay Peninsula the 

 same year, Coffee cultivation became the most important European 

 cultivation in the Peninsula. The plant was discovered in Liberia 

 and Mr. WILLIAM BULL introduced it into England, whence by the 

 assistance of Kew plants were obtained at the Botanic Gardens of 

 Singapore. One of the original introduced plants was growing still 

 in the Gardens in 1890, when it died. Mr. MURTON carried plants 

 up to Teluk Anson, Kuala Kangsa and Larut in 1876, as he didthe 

 Para-rubber trees and also sent plants to Sungei Ujong. 



Sir HUGH Low, who was much interested in the new introduction? 

 reports in a letter to Mr. MURTON, in 1876, that the plants had 

 fruited, but that all the fruits had been stolen. Further supplies, 

 however, were soon forthcoming and very shortly there were widely 

 extended estates all over the Malay States. From the introduction 

 of Liberian Coffee may be said indeed to have originated the agri- 

 culture of Selangor, Perak and Negri Sembilan. Besides the Euro- 

 pean estates, a number of natives, Javanese and Chinese also made 

 plantations of Liberian Coffee and in 1892 I found a small number 

 of plants as far off as the upper reaches of the Tembeling River, 

 where, however, the Malays only used the leaves, of which they made 

 a kind of tea. The leaves of the plant are indeed commonly added 

 to the contents of the tea-pot in Chinese shops to the present day, 

 and at one time there was a proposal to start a Company in Java 

 for preparing Coffee leaves for native consumption : so popular was 

 it. 



Liberian Coffee was originally stated to be proof against Hemi- 

 leia, but did not prove so. The harm, however, that this leaf-fungus 

 inflicted on the plants was almost negligible and when trees were 

 badly affected and injured by it, it was generally considered that 

 the soil was unsuitable and the plant weak and bad. There is still 

 a good deal of Coffee in the Peninsula, and much of it returns a fair 

 to good profit. 



It suffered, however, in 1900 in Selangor, from a bad attack of the 

 Caterpillars of the Bee-hawk moth, which nearly destroyed some 

 estates. The fall in price of Coffee, generally due to the vast out- 

 put of the product in Brazil and the sudden discovery of the planters 

 that Rubber was likely to prove more remunerative in 1 898, a fact 

 which attempts had been made to impress on them from 1890 on- 

 wards, caused the abandonment of a good deal of the Coffee cultiva- 

 tion in favour of the new agriculture. The Coffee, however, had done 

 its work. It had opened the way to agriculture in the Malay States, 

 brought planters, and money there, and showed that something 

 more could be done with the Peninsula that dig tin and gold out 

 of it. 5 5, 



