742 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
fMAy I, r894. 
honey and powder of Turkish Oofiee q. s. Rumt : tha 
quarter of a nutmeg taken, opens the bodv, and 
helps the stone and gout. The grains and borries 
called coffee are brought from Arabia and drunk 
generally throughout all the grand seigDoor's do- 
minions, and about half a pint is to be drunk 
fasting an hour before, and not eating an hour 
before, and not eating an hour after, as not as mav 
be endured, it not fetching the skin off the mouth 
or raising blisters by its heat. The Turks drink 
it to help their crudities, drinking water and eating 
much fruit, which cause it. This drink is cold and 
dry, and when hot neither heats nor inflames 
more than hot posset. It closeth the month of 
the stomach and helpeth digestion, and so may be 
taken at three of the clock in the afternoon, or 
four, as well as in the morning. It quickens the 
spirits and makes the heart lightsome. The steam 
helpeth sore eyes. It is good against a cough and 
cold, Buppresseth fumes, and so helpeth the head- 
ache, stops defluxions, and prevents the cough of 
the lungs. It is better than any other drying 
drinks for old people and children having running 
humours, as the king's evil, &c. It prevents drow- 
siness, hindering sleep for three or four hours, 
taken after supper. It helps the stone, whitens the 
skin, and is not laxative or binding." 
The Revue de> Sciences Natwelles Appliqueea for 
January containing an extract upon. "The Agriculture 
of Diego Suarez (Madagascar)." Thefollowing bits 
may concern Ceylon:— "The French Colony of Diego 
Suarz enjoys a marvellous fertility of soil. . . • 
There is found wild in Mr. Ambre :— coffee : six 
different sorts, one of which seems exactly similar 
to the coffee of Harrar or Moka. The castor oil 
abounds also in the forests. . . . Oacao appears 
to prosper in the western vallies in the shade. 
Several planters from Mauritius, who came over to 
Diego Suarez to study the possibility of forming 
plantations of tea have declared that the lay of the 
hind is perfectly suited to this cultivation, and that 
it seemed to tbem that Madagascar ought to rival 
Ceylon in ousting China tea." 
An Americ»n, named Edward Fr«noia Turner, has 
written two aumsing books for pubiio reading* 
called ' T Leaves ' ^nd ' More T Leaves.' I extract 
three verses from %u absurd song in the latter book:— 
I will tiog to yon a most peculiar song, 
Not particularly short, nor very long, 
Of a place I've heard about, 
Where they turn things in«ide oat : 
It's all true without a doubt. 
Pom pom pom. 
They mix coco\ with champagne and olive oil, 
They put fherry in the kettle for to boil ; 
And for salad ihey use coke, 
lotfr p?rsed wi'h (planks) of oak, 
Wliich are put in tea to srak. 
Pom —pom pom. 
If you'd like yourself this country for to «ee, 
Stop up late, and drii k some extra strong Bobee ; 
Then eat Beefsteak un^lerdone, 
With cucumber and Bath-ban, 
And prooeod to bed at one. 
Pom pom pom. 
la the Chinook Jargon of California, Coff'-e is 
Kau-pa: eat, mucha-muck: drink, much-a-muc'k 
chuck (i.e. eat wa»er) : eg?, le-sep {^French, les ceufi): 
finger, le doo (Fr. ies doigts): foot, la-pea (Ft. 
Uepied) : tin, Ush le-mah (i.e. fish la tnain, hand of 
fisb). But that word le-mah, for hand, puzzles me, 
as it looks suspiciously like the Malay word for 5, 
»nd the almost universal Goeanic word for hand, 
viz. lima. I don't doubt that le-mah came from 
la main, but did 'lima came from it too through 
e-mah ? And what's the, connection between lima, 
5 and litnau, a lemon or lime ? I asked this 
before, but got no ar.swer. Can Mr. Bell toll— I 
meto tell? A, M. Feegcson. 
NEW CALEDONIA COFFEE. 
Since the time (1870-75) when the exports of ooSee 
from Oeylon averaged ovf r 900,000 cwt«. per anonm— 
the bulk ot which came to the United Kiufidom, to 
be re-exported after a euf^oieot qnaotity bad been 
relaiaed for home uee — nnmerooa attempt*, more Iraa 
suocessfal, have been made to fill up the gap oeoa- 
siooed in tbe general supply through the failure of 
tbe crop in the abi^ve-meotiooed place of produetioo ; 
and coSee grown in countries hitherto onknown to 
the trade has b< en imported into Locdon oo a ratber 
extensive sca^e. Still, it haa not alwayi been rf the 
most desirable quality, and the dealrra have often 
been serioubly inooDvonienced fcr waot ot a suitable 
seleetioD of the article, espeoially during tbe latter 
part of the year, when the consuinptiun is largest, 
and stocks usually consist of poor and ini3iffereot 
qualities. To meet the ordinary requirements of con- 
sumer*, grt'at stride* in tbe cultivation of coffee bare 
been visible io Guatemala and ottier South and Cen'ral 
Amt-rican States, aud as (applies at their bct.t have 
been iualtquate to tbe nee'** of buyers, prioea have 
generally ruled biith. The stimulus thus ^veu to tbe 
development of the reaoarces of the eoSee planter 
within the last twenty jears haa coiisequenily be*» 
very powerful, with the result that entirely newdeocrip- 
tioDS have been raised in various parts of the world, 
making up in some measure for the deflciencie* 
experienced in other quarter*. Beside* the import* 
tions from the Span'sh We«t Indiea which we Lave 
no'iced in our market rerorti from time to time, 
there hive also been shipment* of eotfe« from 
Abyspiftia ; and only on the 3rd of tbe pre«nt ironthe 
we drew attention in there columne to the aatitfactory 
progresa of tbe plantations io German K&at Africa, 
btarted ty a Company biaring that name. 
The latest aud most interesting information con- 
cerning the oultivatioo ot coffee, however, retches u« 
from New Caledonia, a fmall liarrow is'aod amou^ tbe 
Hebrides in the South Pacific, lying to the east of 
Queensland and far to the north of New Zualan J, 
where the aoil and climate uo doubt are admirably 
adapted for tbe raising of tbe plarjt. From what «« 
lOirniotbe matter, ii appears that tbe late Mr. C. P. 
Liurie, who was a coffee planter in Oeylon thirty 
years ago, left that island in 1873, and settled 
in New Caledonia, where he commenced plantinj; 
oo£fee as a private hobby ; but it tamed oat to be so 
sncoeBsful that, on hi* death, the eon, Mr. A. A. 
Laarie, carried on the same parsait as his father bad 
done, only in • more resolute etyle. What had been 
a mere "hobby" soon grew into an important buai- 
nese, tbe nomber of trees increased considerably, and 
tbe bearing strength from 250,000 trees on the two 
otates, viz., "Thio" and "Canada," in 1893 was 
equal to 1,300 owt, oofFea. For 1894 (this year) the 
estimatid yield from 300,000 tre^s Is 1,600 owl., and 
coffee of good quality only is grown there. We have 
been favoured with specimens and samples of this 
tind of coffee, which is not unlike TeUieherry, of 
East India plantation growth, of a palish, greenish 
hue, and in Mincing- laoe it would probably be worth 
aboat 908 per owt. in bond. When roasted and ground 
it gives off a pleasant and agreeable aroma, and is 
well suited to the every-day wants of the trade. Of 
the qaantity already produced, the greater portion 
has hitherto been sold in the Sydney and Adelaide 
markets, and it has likewise been supplied to the 
French Government in the execution of contracts in 
New Oaladooia. None of this coffee has yet appe'-red 
on tbe London market, bnt there are propoeals to 
introduce it here, and jndging from the scarcity that 
exists, and the s-eitdy demand that prevails for a«e. 
ful qualities at most seasons of the year, it is pretty 
certain that the article as imported from Kew Oale- 
donia would find a ready sale. Its introduotion into 
this country may therefore be looked forward to with 
confidence by both importers and wholesale dealers : 
because of the remunerative prices that are likely to 
be obtained, and for the reason that clean, wholesale 
sorts of ooS^e, are the very grades that have for 
yean past been most difficult to procure. It is on 
this acooant to be hoped that the new venture will 
become ft great Bncctsa.— (?roc«r, Feb. 24. 
