July i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
09 
" We estimate that we shall sell these patents for 
-$250,000 each, which would amount to $2,500,000, or 
|250 a share ; but wo shall, in addition, have Founder's 
shaww in each of the different companies entitling 
the Date Coffee Company to one-half of all profits 
after 50 per cent has been paid to the shareholders 
of these different companies. 
"Now, as our figures show that each Company's 
profit will be $500,000 a year, the Date Coffee Com- 
pany will have a yearly profit of $125,000, or $1,250,000 
m all, to which add .¥'-'50.000, the profit you will 
make, and yon have ihe following results: 
" Each $25 Date Coffee|rharc will receive a bonus 
of $250 per share, and annual dividends of $3,000 
per sharo. 
'? Assuming, therefore, that shares are bought, to pay 
10 per cent, the Date Coffee shares, after receiving 
.•?2.">0 bonus for each $25 share, ought to be worth 
$1,500 per share. 
" The figures are large and look extravagant, but 
they are. 1 think, beyond dispute. Yours faithfully, 
Henry Haymen." 
The first effort was to start a French Company. 
This was done by the same men who organized the 
English Company and they sold the patent to t>em- 
S'lves for $250,000, This gave them the start required. 
The $25 shares of the English company immediately 
rose in value from almost nothing to $160. A German 
company was then organized without trouble. The 
chairman said; "I have had twenty-five years' ex- 
perience in the city of London, and I have never 
in my life hud money pressed upon me so fast as I 
liave had in conmction with the French and German 
companies." All the shares of the German Company 
were applied for two or three times over. A proposal 
was received to pay S100,000 for the Russian patent, 
and the speculation in the shares of the companies 
seems to be general in London. 
At this stage the managers have turned their atten- 
tion to the United States. At a recent meeting of 
the stockholders Chairman Haymen said : 
"In the United States aud Canada during the 
years 1877 aud 1878 about 140,000 tons of coffe were 
used ; during the same time the quantity used in the 
United Kingdom was only 15,000 tons, while on the 
Continent of Europe it was 300,000 tons. You will 
see, therefore, there is a much larger field in the 
United States than there is upon the Continent, 
comparatively speaking. I except France, which we 
consider finished. Therefore we have thought it 
better that we should take up the United States 
after the German is finished ; so it will be the third 
company. [Cheers.] Now the United States is equal 
to five patents. We can put up our works at five 
different seaports at such a price as will enable each 
one iu those divisions to more than equal tin- United 
Kingdom. The terms upon which we have negotiated 
1 cannot say are concluded. I calculate we shall 
realize from the United States a minimum of $2,500,000, 
and it may be even more than that." 
A well-known American, who has beta interested in 
nhe coffee trade in London f"r some years, in speak- 
ing of the Date Coff-e Company and its product, 
"aid : 
As actually sold in the English market this 'dates 
coffe ' is declined in the printed label on the tin 
box ni which it is nold to be 'a mixture of dates 
with mile of the finest coffee and a little chicory.' 
which being translated means- this compound is 
caramel coffee and chicory. Now earomel is roasted 
sugar, well-known all over Prance, employed to 
■olor brandies, in universal use among cooks for 
Houps, etc.. and largely in use combined with coffee. 
' Cafe Geroella ' is mi article of wide consumption in 
Paris and has enjoyed great repute for years. This 
' date coffee ,s infinitely inferior to it. If the Com- 
pany does actually roast the dates— which I very much 
| doubt — ir obtains only earomel, not a whit better than 
roasted cane sugar and much more expensive. It they 
do actually roast some dates, my opinion is that it is 
only enough ' to swear by.' it would be an interest 
ing question to know why they put chiccory in the 
article they sell. We had all sorts of coffee sub. 
ftitutes during the war, but as soon as genuine coffee 
could be bad again the substitutes disappeared. This 
humbug will have its day and the promoters of the 
scheme will line their poekets, and no doubt som- of 
the first purchasers of shares will make money; but 
it is lamentable to think of the fate of the last coiners. " 
F. B. Thurber, of H. K. & F. B. Thurber, was 
asked if he knew anything of this new scheme. "I 
do not," he replied, " but it can be safely set down as 
a sham. Surely things can be more easily got en up 
in England by means of joint stock Companies than 
in this country." 
" Do you know of dates ever having been used to 
adulterate coffee 't " 
" I have heard of their use abroad. Iu this country, 
especially duriug the war, peas, rye, chicory and 
various other things were used to adulterate coffee. 
There are essences sold now, composrd of earomel. 
chicory, etc., which are used in coloring coffee and 
giving it a fictitious appearance of strength. Since 
the retail grocers have taken to grinding coffee for 
customers, the use of adulterated coffee has been largely 
decreased. The only safe way to buy coffee is in.ihe 
bean. We' impress that upon all our customer*. 
Coffee in the bean is not adulterated. The fact that 
this Date Company is so particular to refer to Mocha 
coffee is but another evidence of its being a fraud. 
Now, Mocha coffee is not the best. Coffee was 
originally obtained in Arabia and exported from Mocha, 
hence the name Mocha coffee. Since then, better 
coffee has been found elsewhere. But Mocha coffee 
is comparatively scarce, hence it is higher in price.'' 
"You do not think, then, that, there is v chance 
for 'date coffee' in this country?" 
" No. There is no necessity now for adulterating 
coffee The price has been tending downward for 
years, and the use of adulterated jjo n ds of any kind 
is reprehensible, and becoming justly a snbject of 
legislation. There is a better chance for adulterated 
coffee to sell in England than here. Any one who 
has been there knows how difficult it is to get a 
good cup of coffee there. Americans use about three 
times as much coffee as Englishmen, perhaps because 
they know how to make goort coffee. The largest 
consumption of coffee per c ipita is in Holland. Ger- 
many comes next, and then France and the United 
States, in which two countries the per capita con- 
sumption is about the same. A? for the u=c of dates 
for coffee, on the scale proposed by this Company, 
it is absurd. There would not be dates enough to 
supply such a use, and of course the demand for them 
would increase their cost above that of pure coffee." 
Other large coffee dealers were consulted in regard 
to the dale coffee scheme, find they all considered it 
a plan for defrauding the public, and predicted that 
it would find no favor in this country. One of them 
said: "There has been over §7,000,000 1 st in coffee 
in this country in a year owing to the increased produc- 
tion and declining prices, and it is absurd to talk 
about introducing adulterated coff e under such circum- 
stances. " 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW BR ANCHES 
OF INDUSTRY IN INDIA. 
A paper sent to us by the Madras Government 
contain- a communication from the Under Secretaiy 
I to the Government of India. Horn's, Revenue, and 
j Agricultural Department (Public), to the Chief Seen, 
tary to th< Government of Madras, forwardiuo a:> 
extract from Section I. Chapter VI, Part II. i-f the 
