54 
THF. TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [July 2, 1888 
2 It would appear from this letter that an entirely 
new aspect has been given to the preparation of 
coffee for the English market by the establishment in 
London of a factory to clean parchment cofiee in a 
cheap and expeditious manner. 
3. It is proposed to treat this subject as regards its 
bearing upon West Indian coffee in the Kew Bulletin 
for the month of May next. Owing to the falling-off 
of coffee production in the East Indies to the extent, it 
is faid, of a million and a quarter cwts. annually, coffee 
cultivation in the "West Indies should be largely aug- 
mented. The difficulties hitherto encountered by small 
setttlers in the preparation of coffee are likely to be 
entirely overcome by the cleaning of parchment coffee 
in London, and this fact, in the opinion of Mr. Thiselton 
Dyer, cannot be too widely known in every West Indian 
Island. — I am, &c, 
(Signed) D. Morris. 
Edward Wingfie!d, Esq , Colonial Office, S. W. 
[Enclosure.] 
Messes Lewis and Peat to Royal Gardens, Kew. 
6, Blincicg Lane, E. C, April 17, 1888. 
Sir. — In reply to yourfavour of the 16th instant we beg 
to inform you that the system of importing coffee in the 
parchment is largely on the increase, and some most 
satisfactory results have been attained. 
We have recently sold large parcels from America 
which were " milled " here, and agaiust 70s. per cwt. 
obtained last year for the same coffee cleaned on the 
plantation we obtained 86s. per cwt., a though prices 
all round were lower. Experience shows that the husk 
or parchment protects the bean from atmospheric in- 
fluences which affect the colour, and in every instance 
where trials have been made the result has been in 
favour of cleaning here. The process is quite simple 
and the cost is 2.5, 6c?. per cwt., including ever} thing. 
The coffee must be pulped and the cherry got rid of 
on the plantation, but the most important matter is 
the drying. It is absolutely necessary that the parch- 
ment must be perfectly dried and kept from moisture 
afterwards, insufficient drying is most damaging to 
after results, and must have the greatest care. 
There is no advantage in selling the coffee in parch- 
ment as much better prices are obtained by cleaning 
it here. The grower is more than compensated for 
extra freight paid, loss in weight, &c, by the extra 
good out-turn of his coffee if properly cleaned here. 
Any further information we can furnish we shall be 
most happy to give you. We enclose a sample of 
parchment which is worth 35s. per cwt. in parchment, 
and wh< n cleaned 80s. per cwt. The probable loss in 
weight is about 15 or 16 per cent. There would always 
be a market for coffee cleaned here, and as much as 
the West Indian Islands could produce would easily 
find a market. — We remain, &c, 
D. Morris, Esq. (SigDed) Lewis & Peat. 
PATCHOULI. 
(Pogostemon Paiehouli, var. suavis.) 
In the Kew Bulletin, No. 15, for March, 1S88, page 
71, an account was given of the patchouli plant used 
in perfumery. To this account was added some 
interesting notes respecting patchouli cultivated 
at Penang, under the charge of Mr. C. Curtis, Assistant 
Superintendent in the Forest Department: We are 
now luabli d f o supplement these notes by the interest- 
ing information contained in the following letter, 
recently received from Mr. Curtis: — 
Penang, February 16, 1888. 
Sir.— I beg to thank you for the determinations of Pen- 
a >gs plants (1,14(1-1,201), and also for your kind letter of 
L6th December. Referring to your remarks on patchouli, 
it may interest you to know the result of an experiment 
in cultivating and harvesting one-twentieth of an acre 
of patchouli in the Kxperimenta.1 Nursery, Penang. 
Cuttings were put in in January, and the last week 
in Pi bruary one-twentieth of an acre was planted three 
feet apart. The soil of the nursery is poor, and the 
only manure used was wood-ashes. 
On July the 21st the whole was cut and weighed 
in a green state 419 lb. After beiug dried in a cool 
airy shed for 1(J days the weight was 106 lb. The 
leaves were then separated from the stems and each 
weighed separately, the result beiug, "good leaf." 
G9 lb. ; refuse, 37 lb. Samples were submitt-ed to two 
London brokers, both of whom faid that the 9ample 
was good. One valued it at 8d. to Wd. per lb., and 
tbe other at 10</. to 11</. 
The same patch wa< cut again the first week in 
January of this year, aid the .\ield and results were 
approximately the same as in July ; so that there is 
r>o doubt an acre of patchouli will yield considerably 
over one ton of "good leaf" per annum. 
If there is a steady demand, nothing better can be 
planted by native cultivators, as no special skill is 
required in its cultivation, or machintry of any kind 
in its preparation. That the system of cutting the 
whole patch at once is the best system possible I 
am by no means suie. I think if only one side of 
the rows were cut at first, and the remainder after 
that had commenced to grow again, there would be 
less exposure of the roots to the sun, and consequent- 
ly less cheek to the growth. 
The principal point to be observed in drying is to 
dry slowly and not to the point of crispness, other- 
wise the leaves get broken to powder and are of 
lefs value. 
I mentioned some time ago, when sending a sample 
to Kew that the leaves of tho Urena lobata are used 
for adulteration. 
Can you inform me whether patchouli is used for 
any other purpose than for perfumery ? — I remaiD, &c, 
D. Morris, Esq. (Signed) C. Curtis. 
COOHIN CHINA VINE. 
{Vitis Martini, Planch.) 
An apparently new species of vine has been received 
at Kew from the Botanic Gardens, Hongkong. It 
was sent by Mr. Ford as V,tis Martini, Planch. From 
botanical specimens a'so contributed by Mr. Ford to 
the Kew Herbarium, Profess jr Oliver has identified 
the plant as Vitis (Ampelocissus) Martini of Planchon, 
but he is doubtful whether it is specifically distinct 
from Vitis barbata, Wall, of Bengal and Burma. 
As plants of this vine have been distributed from 
Kew to corespondents in the colonies, it is desirable 
to place on record all the available information res- 
pecting it. In the report of the Superintendent of 
the Botanical and Afforestation Department, Hong, 
kong, for the year 1885, the following interesting 
account is given of the Cochin China vine : — 
"Another plant of considerable interest is a new 
tuberous-rooted vine, Vitis Ma/rtini, Planch., from 
Cochin China. It fruited this year in Hongkong for 
the first time. The seeds were procured from the 
Botanic Gardens, Saigon, in 1883. The seedlings were 
planted out. the same summer and made several shoots, 
each of which died down in the winter. They began 
to make fresh shoots about the middle of April, 
1884, and grew well during the summer, but showed 
no inclination to power; and again died down in the 
winter. Last summer they started vigorously and 
showed flower about the end of May. Many of the 
bunches, however, failed to develop fruit, owing, ap- 
parently, to imperfect fertilization ; but there was a 
good average crop of !>unches on the canes irrespect- 
ive of the failures. The fruit was ripe in October, 
many of the bunches weighing a pound each. The 
berries, when ripe, are jet black, and rather under 
the average size of ordinary grapes. The seeds are 
large in proportion to the size of the berry. The 
flavour is a peculiar blending of sweetness and acidity, 
very pleasant, but tending, in my case, to leave a 
curious smarting sensation on the tongue ; others 
might not find this peculiarity at all objectionable. 
The flavour might be altered, as is well known, by 
varying the mode of cultivation; but the size of the 
seeds is likely to prevent the grape becoming popular 
as a table fruit; it may, however, be very well adapted 
for a wine producer. A number of seedlings of this 
vine were distributed amongst reeidents of the Colony 
