THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June 2, 1890. 
f a little damp, are considered the best spots for 
coffte growing, the New Hebrides need not be con- 
sidered an excepttion to the rule. We fear, how- 
ever, that if this oftcoveted group becomes attractive 
to planters, the question of its independence will once 
more come to the froat. The species imported into t ne 
islands is, we presume, the Liberian coffee. Indeed, 
to experiment with any other would be to risk 
discouragement, since, apart from its merits as 
a crop, the West African Coffea, has, as yet, 
alone resisted the disease which has ruined 
so many plantations of the Arabian species.* Ceylon, 
not many years ago, attracted a large amount of British 
capital, and for a time it appeared as if this rich Indian 
islaud was to be the greatest of all the coffee-gro wing 
regions of the world. But before long the woes of the 
planter began. The Golunda rat gnawed the trees, and 
the coffee bug played havoc with the beans. Then 
came the worst of all its pests, in the shape of the 
leaf fungi, which all but completed the destruction of 
what the others had spared. The result is that tea, 
instead of coffee, is now the staple of the Sinhalese 
planters, and happily, for the present, the Chinese 
herb bids fair to more than compensate for the loss 
sustained by the Arabian tree. The Liberian coffee-plant 
is, curiously enough, free from the parasitic attacks, pos- 
sibly because being more recently reclaimed from a 
state of nature, its constitution is less enfeebled than 
the old variety, which has been cultivated for at least 
a thousand y r ars, though in Arabia ifc does not date 
further back than the early part of the Fifteenth 
Century. The Liberian plant, has, in addition, the 
advantage of being very prolific in highly aromatic 
beans, and as it lovos low lands, it can be grown at 
altitudes unsuitable for the Arabian coffee, the native 
country of which is the uplands of Abyssinia. 
But somefhing more than climate is necessary to a 
profitable coffee plantation. It requires a well-watered 
mountain slope not much over twenty-five degrees from 
the Equator, and between'one thousand and four thou- 
sand feet above the sea, where the mean temperature is 
not less than fifty-five degrees. Then, the soil must 
be friable and well drained, and enriched by the fresh 
loam which is being constantly washed down the hill- 
slope by the Tropical rains. In Quito and Peru, no 
doubt, there are plantations at a height of sis thousand 
feet on the Andes. But even at this elevation in such 
a climate frost is unknown. Moisture is especially 
necessary, and if the rainfall is deficient, the ground 
must, at intervals, be carefully irrigated. For at least 
three years after the seedlings are set out no return 
can be expected, while the labour of the cultivator in 
weeding, cleaning, pruning, draining, and " handling " 
the plauts generally lias to be unremitting, if his hopes 
are not to be doomed to disappointment. In the third 
year the little shrubs begin to yield a remunerative 
•crop. Yet, even at the best of times, the ordinary 
Arabian variety cannot be reckoned upon to hear more 
than from one and a half to two pounds f of berries in 
a season, though much depends upon climate, soil, and 
situation. The Liberian species is said to sometimes 
bear as much as sixteen pounds { of marketable h eans 
during the eight months it continues to flower. Three 
.gatherings are usually made every year; since the berries, 
owiag to the circumstances mentioned, may at any 
period be of unequal ripeness. These operations 
naturally require great care, judgment, and experience, 
(for the value of coffee depends entirely utvon its flavour, 
and such a seeming trifle as not cutting off the irri- 
gating streams at the proper time will injure the aroma 
* This (shows how much the writer knows : he would 
be surprised to learn that in Ceylon, the Liberian trees 
developed bigger crops of the leaf fungus than could be 
seen on the bushes of the Arabian species ! We are 
somewhat puzzled to understand the apparent immunity 
of Liberian coffee from the fungus in the Straits and 
North Borneo. Accounts of flourishing plantations 
reach us, with no mention of the fungus. Besides, 
the " rather small" beans sent to the Colonial Institute 
must have been the produce of the so called Arabian, 
p)nnt. — Bd. T, A. 
f Absurdly high ; § lb. is very good.— -Ed, T. A. 
I Too high by far,— Ed. 2", A. 
of the berries, while a deficiency in the water supply or 
the presence of weeds between the rows is equally 
apt to reduce their dimensions. The latter point is 
vital, for the shap?, size, and colour of the beaus are 
among the principal elements which determiue the 
value of a crop, ani all these points are affected by 
very trivial circumstances. Then, the shape seems re- 
lated to the particular part of the plant upon which 
the berry grows, the size and succulence on the nature 
of the locality, while the colour has, according to the 
investigations of Mr. Hieru, reference to the degree 
of maturity which the fruit has attained at the time 
of gathering. The nicety with which the beans are 
sun-dried and passed between rollers, in order to 
remove the external pulp and the membrane enclosing 
them, has also an influence on the esteem in which 
they are held. Thus we have the matchless Mocha 
coffee from Arabia, easily distinguished by its small 
greenishgrey beans ; Java and East India, with large 
yellow ones; Jamaica, with beaus rather smaller and 
greener; Bourbon, distinguished by its pale yellow 
and almost whitish beans; and Suriuam coffee in which 
the beans are larger than in any other kind. But in 
these and a score of other varieties there are various 
grades of quality — "fine," "middling," "ordinary," 
"low," and "triage," the last being broken seeds. The 
New Hebrides have, therefore, a good many prelim- 
inary obstacles to overcome before they can maDage 
to find a recognised place among the coffee-growing 
countries of the world. 
We are, indeed, doubtful whether the mere circurn. 
stance that the islands, or any one of them, may be 
able to harvest a saleable crop of the bean is anything 
more than an interesting scientific fact, unless the crop 
can be put on the market at a smaller expense than that 
of Brazil or Arabia, or is of a much finer quality. For 
there is plenty of coffee for sale and much more would 
be available did it pay to produce. Up to nearly the 
close of the seventeenth century Europe depended for 
its coffee upon Arabia alnne. But in 1670, Mynheer 
van Wieser, the Burgomaster of Amsterdam, intro- 
duced it into Batavia, and since that period the 
original home of the plant forms a comparatively in- 
significant source of supply. Brazil and Central 
America grow enormous quantities. So do Venezuela, 
Guiana, Peru, and Bolivia, in the Southern half of 
the New World. Java is one great coffee plantation, 
and Ceylon, in spite of her troubles still harvests an 
appreciable quantity. In Southern India the cultiva- 
tion of coffee is an important and ever-growing branch 
of rural industry ; in Sumatra, Reunion, Mauritius, 
and along the West Coast of Atrica it affords em- 
ployment—and occassionally wealth — to a great many 
people ; while, if Mr. Stanley's somewhat sanguine 
dreams take a substantial shape, Central Africa and 
the Upper Congo are soon to rank among the lands 
which are to compete with the great coffee growing 
regions. It is, therefore, clear that quality and 
low prices, which depend on cheap labour, cheap 
land, suitability of soil and climate, freedom from 
animal and vegetable plagues, and easy access to 
markets, are of paramount importance. All these may 
be found in the New Hebrides, though for the present 
it would be safer to moderate our expectations, until 
a few crops have been disposed of|profitably. The mere 
faot of any locality yielding a particular product is only 
one point gained. Coffee often ripens in the conserva- 
tories at Kew, though we fancy this incident would 
scarcely be considered an argument for ranking Coffea 
Arabica among the future saviours of British agriculture. 
What the practical botanist ought now to consider is, 
how best he can produce a hardy variety of the plant, 
proof against disease, and capable of yielding a large 
supply of berries. With the results of hybridisation 
before us, this, one might venture to think, ought to be 
within the power of Science. There are some fifty or 
sixty species known in a wild condition, if the American 
forms are to be referred to the same genus as the 
Asiatic and African ones. Surely, when pedigree 
wheats have been selected from " sports " in ordinary 
crops, and other agricultural plauts made to yield 
fourforld what they do in a wild condition, a little 
care in " breeding " ought to produce a much improved 
oofiee plant, 
