COPFEE. 



49 



Eroin these figures it appears that, in a period of sixteen years, 

 Ceylon exported two and a half millions of cwts. of coffee. 

 The consumption of cofiee, although for a long time stationary in 

 Britain, now that adulteration is no longer legalised, is likely to 

 increase as rapidly as in other parts of the world ; and it appears 

 pretty evident that, so long as anything like remunerative prices 

 can be obtained, Ceylon aylLI do her part in supplying the world with 

 an article which occupies the position of a necessary to the poor as 

 well as a luxury to the rich. The exports of coffee from this colony 

 have, within a few thousands of hundredweights, been nearly 

 quadrupled since 18^3, when only 9J<,000 cwts. were sent away. 



Dr. Eudolph G-ygax, in a paper submitted to the Cejdon Branch 

 of the E/oyal Asiatic Society, offered remarks on some analyses of 

 the coffe3 of Ceylon, with suggestions for the applications of 

 manures. 



"Having had," h.e observes, "my attontion drawn to an account of an 

 analysis of the Jamaica cotf^'C berry, made by Mr. Herapath, the Liverpool 

 chemist, I have paid some little attention to the subject of the coffee plant of 

 this island, forming, as it does, so very important a feature in the resources of 

 this colony. The desire that I thus felt for obtaining some information regard- 

 ing the constituent parts of the Ceylon tree and its fruit, was heightened by a 

 knowledge of the fact, that not a few of those cotfee estates, which once gave 

 good promise of success, are now in a very precarious state of production. 



I much regret that the means at my disposal have not allowed me to carry 

 out aiiy qi' a dative analysis, but the result of my labours are sufficiently accU'. 

 rate f jr my present purpose. I have analysed the wood and fruit of trees from 

 two different localities, as well as the ashes of some plants sent me from the 

 Rajawella estate near Kandy, and they all tend to bear out the result of Mr. 

 Herapath' s inquiries. Placing the substances traced in the coffee plant in the 

 order in which they occur in tbe greatest quantity, they will stand thus : — 



Lime, potash, magnesia, phosphoric acid, other acids. 



Of these lime is by far the most prominent, forming about 60 per cent, of 

 the whole. 



I cannot help, therefore, arriving at the conclusion that, to cultivate coffee 

 with any degree of success, the first-named substance must be present in the 

 soil ; or, if not present, must be supplied to it by some process. 



Xow it is a singular fact that the rocks and soils of Ceylon are greatly de- 

 fi.cient in alkaline matter ; and, taking this view of the case, one no longer 

 ■wonders that many estates cease to produce coffee. That all, or nearly all the 

 plantations did, in their first year or two of bearing, produce liberally in fruit, 

 may readily be accounted for by the fact that the alkaline poverty of the soil 

 was enriched by the burning of the vast quantities of timber which lay felled 

 on all sides. Whilst this temporary supply lasted, all was v^ell with the planter. 

 Heavy rains, and frequent scrapings of the land with the mamotie, or hoe, soon 

 dissipated this scanty supply, and short crops are now the consequence. 



But nature, ever bountiful, ever ready to compensate for all deficiencies, has 

 provided to our hands a ready means of remedying this evil of the soil, by 

 scattering throughout most parts of the interior supplies of dolomitic limestone. 

 The dolomite of Ceylon is not pure, far from it, being mixed freely with apatite 

 or phosphate of lime. Even in this very accidental circumstance the coffee 

 planter is aided ; for the phosphoric acid thus combined with the limestone is 

 the very substance required in addition. Some of the finest properties in the 

 island are situated on a limestone bottom, and these no doubt will continue to 

 yield abundant crops for a very long period. 



It has been urged against this opinion that in some districts where coffee 

 planting has proved a complete failure, dolomite is found most abundantly ; but 



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