16-2 
l lHE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [September i, 1887. 
Dominica. — Coffee was at the beginning of this cen- 
tury the leading article of export from this islaud, and 
it was then considered one of the best kinds produced 
in the West Indies. The trees, however, were attacked 
some forty years ago by aD insect blight which spread 
devastation among the plantations, and destroyed 
the greater portion of them, so reducing the produc- 
tion that at the present time it is hardly equal to the 
consumption of the island. Cultivation is now reviv- 
ing to some extent, and it appears that the blight, 
although still in existence, is comparatively harmless at 
high elevations. The Liberian variety has also been 
introduced. There is an abundance of fine forest land 
aud rich soil on the slopes of the bold mountains which 
cover the country, with plenty of moisture, conditions 
which are eminently favourable to the growth of 
coffee. 
Of the ten samples exhibited, two were of a very 
small, hard, heavy, greenish bean worth about 70s. per 
cwt.,oue pale native kind 50s., one Liberian 52s. ; the 
remainder were of good size, greenish to rather good 
green colour, and if properly picked and prepared, 
would be worth from 63s. to 76s. per cwt. As it is, they 
were of a very indifferent quality in the cup, and not 
worth more than from 56s. to 68s. 
St. Lucia. — One sample, small close brownish, native 
kind, 52s. 
Barbados. — One sample, ordinary pale uneven native 
sort, 52s., and oue small of very well preparod good 
bluish plantation, of even size, though a little rough, 
worth 80s. per cwt. 
Grenada. — One sample, large pale greenish, useful 
quality, 54s. 
Tobago. — Two samples of dull greenish and brownish 
Creole coffee, not sized, but good of its kind, worth 
56's. to 58s. per cwt. 
Trinidad. — Ten samples were exhibited : two of 
them consisted of very common dull brown and red 
badly prepared coffee, worth 47s. ; four were Creole or 
pale native kind, of a useful quality, ranging in value 
from 52s. to 54s. ; the others were better, and with 
more care in their preparation might be turned into 
good coffee, worth probably 60s. or 70s. ; but being im- 
perfectly picked and of a brownish colour, their value 
was reduced to 58s. to 60s. per cwt. 
There appears to be a good deal of land suitable for 
opening into coffee gardens or plantations, and planting 
has been carried on lately on a larger scale. It is to 
be hoped that the Botanic Gardens, which supply 
plants from their nurseries, will endeavour to provide 
none but those grown from the best seed of Cnffca 
arabiea, which can easily be procured from Jamaica or 
from New Grenada. In an island where the cultivation 
and preparation of cocoa has been brought to such a 
degree of perfection, there ought to be no lack of 
skilled labour to prepare coffee much better than is 
apparent from the samples exhibited. The shape and 
size of the berries show that the soil and climate are 
favourable, and that it is only labour, care, and skill 
which are required to give the coffee its proper value. 
British Guiana. — British Guiana situated on the 
north-east coast of South America, comprises the Colon- 
ies of Bssequibo, Demerara, aud Berbice, the two 
latter Well known some forty or fifty years ago as pro- 
ducing coffee of esteemed quality. The cultivation, 
however, diminished steadily, until in recent years of 
Demerara or Berbice coffee the name alone remained. 
The decrease is ascribed more to cost and want of labour 
than to climate or soil, which are both favourable ; 
and the few samples shown, from plantations which 
have again been started in the last few years, tend to 
prove that excellent coffee can be grown in the Colony. 
The cidtivated part of the country is a flat alluvial 
plain of forty miles exteut, between the sea and the 
rising ground, at and even below the sea-level, and 
traversed by large rivers ; cultivation is restricted to 
the river banks and the coast. 
Of the six samples exhibited, three of extremely use- 
ful pale bean, very well prepared, would be worth 58s. 
to i 3s. per cwt., if perfectly clean and sweet and un- 
affected by sugar, which is not the case with the samples 
shown ; one was Feaberry and two Liberian, of average 
sort, valued at about 45s. to 52s. per cwt. 
British* Honduras. — Coffee cultivation does not 
appear to have begun until within the last four or 
five years, when one or two plantations were established. 
Probably not more than a few hundred acres are planted ; 
but coffee arabiea grows wild in some parts. Two bags 
were exhibited of very good pale greenish native kind, 
strong and roasting well, worth 03s. per cwt, and one 
sample of parchment. The adjoining State of Guat- 
emala is gradually becoming oue of the leading coffee- 
growing countries, and British Honduras should be a 
very suitable place for a more extended cultivation. 
In concluding this report it is difficult to avoid allud- 
ing to the extraordinary treatment to which coffee 
is subjected at the hands of the British Government. 
Had it had extended to it the same amount of fair 
play aud protection against fraud as is accorded to 
Tea, it is probable that the greater portion of the 
35,000 tons of British-grown coffee would be retained 
for home consumption, instead of a paltry 14,000 tons, 
or at the rate of about 15 oz. per head of the population 
per annum, against 2f lbs. per head in France, 5 lbs. in 
Germany, 7| lbs. in the United States, kc. It would 
almost seem as if the Treasury, which is directly re- 
sponsible for the legislation on the subject, was bent 
upon discouraging by every means in its power the use 
of one of the most delicious and beneficent of the 
non-alcoholic drinks, by the sanction which it gives to 
its adulteration with any vegetable matter; it is im- 
possible to recognise coffee in the wretched mixtures 
which are sold in every shop or store, or in the thick 
dark liquid which is served under that name in many 
of the coffee palaces and temperance houses through- 
out the kingdom. No wonder that consumption 
decreases year by year, not of coffee alone, but even of 
chicory and mixtures. The Local Government Board 
and the Board of H. M.'s Customs join in their aunual 
reports in ascribing the diminishing revenue from 
coffee and chicory to adulteration, and in condemning 
the present state of legislation on the subject. Surely 
those who are engaged in the cultivation, importation, 
and trade in coffee, ought to make an effort to obtain 
redress for what i3 acknowledged almost on all hands 
to be a crying injustice. — Planters' Gazette. 
COFFEE ADULTERATION. 
The following letter, from Mr. Shirley Hibberd, 
appeared recently in The Times with reference to 
coffee adulteration: — 
'•Sir, — Coffee deserves the importance it has acquired 
as a subject of public discussion, and the more so be- 
cause it is but little understood. At good tables poor 
coffee is too often seen, and it may be said that on 
the world's table (in these parts) it is never at all, 
but in its place appear various nauseous and injurious 
imitations. 
"Valuing coffee as a great aid in hard work, I made 
a resolve to have the real thing on my table daily, or 
'perish in the attempt.' Thereupon, I entered upon a 
series of experiments that were at least amusing if uot 
particularly profitable. I bought every kind of coffee 
I could see or hear of, and tried every possible (and 
some impossible way of making it having the assistance 
therein of a diligent and clever cook. One striking 
result was the discovery that ready-ground coffees sold 
in canisters, packets, and other convenient parcels are 
bad, some very bad, a few infamously bad. After try- 
ing innumerable samples without noting one that was 
worth trying again, I concluded that canister coffee is an 
unmitigated cheat, consisting usually of a mere shadow 
of the real thiug, with a great bulk of chicory, and more 
or less of what is termed 'colour,' this being simply 
burnt sugar to give a fictitious strength. AYhat may 
be termed ' chandler's coffee ' is so bad that I strongly 
recommend a trial of it to respectable people who 
love good living, for they ought to know by a taste of 
real agony how the poor are robbed, and poisoned, 
and have, as it appears, no protection from law, gospel, 
or the customs of society. 
" It is not good policy to purchase coffee ready 
ground, but if it must be done the supplies should be 
small and frequent. Anyone may test the purity of 
ground coffee by shaking a little over a tumbler of 
