244 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Oct. i, 1894. 
To the Editor. 
LIBERIAN COFFEE— COCOA— KOLA AND 
COCA LEAVES : 
INTERESTING INFORMATION FROM MR. TIIOMAB 
CHRISTY. 
London, E. C. Aug. 3. 
Sir, — I notice in the Tropical Agriculturist for 
July that Liberian cofiee is likely to boom in 
Ceylon. Of cjurae, if you go to any of the people 
who really understand what the flavour of a high 
olass oofiee is thc^y turn up their noses at Liberian, 
but I have endeavoured to show that there are 
certain people in England and in Franoe who 
purchase coffee only for the strong flavour and they 
purchase it beaause it impregnates or saturates 
more easily the different ingredients whioh they sell 
for " cofiee " when ground up, and it is this class 
of dealer who wants the Liberian beciuse it is 
found here to oarry a great deal of strength. On 
the other band the fciant Maragogipe coffee and any 
of the varieties of coffee Arabioa yield beautiful 
flavour, especially those coming from Central 
Amerioa and Mexico ; but in the generality of 
houses ooff je is never measured or weighed. The 
consequence is that it is unreliable in strength 
when made into a deooction for drinking. As a 
rule it is found that the oafe noir or black cofiee 
requires an ounoe of cofiee to produce a really good 
rich cup of this beverage. 
I am intending when I get a little time to write to 
the Queen newspaper, whioh is read by very many 
ladies who take a great interest in housekeeping to 
suggest that they should get at the stores some 
measure which would enable the cook without the 
trouble of weighing to take a certain quantity of 
oofiee, so that if she has to make 5 cups of oofiee 
she would know that sha would want so many 
measures of coffee terries in the roasted state ready 
for grinding. If any of your readers oao give me 
any hints in regaid to this through the Tropical 
Agriculturist or the Ceylon Observer I Bhould be 
very glad of them. 
Cocoa in Ceylon. — You throw out a hint that 
if the planting of cacao inorease3 in the Central 
Amerioan States there will not be much ohance for 
Ceylon, Now the demand for coooa is so great in 
the Central Amerioan States that they are large 
importers of coooa in the face of a very high duty. 
We consider their own oocoa superior to any we 
can send them in the raw state. I have before me 
at the time of writing oocoa beans whioh I have 
accurately measured and I find that they are If" 
x |" lengthwise ; the circumference lengthways 18 
Si" full and the ciroumference of the side 2". The 
post sample of 7 beans fermented and dried weighed 
18 grammes. 
Kola.— The Africans on the ooast, of course, 
produce 75 per cent more Kola than any other 
place in the world. They have stuck to their 
price, and will not Eell the fresh nuts, which 
they use for money, below a oertain price. 
These nuts, many of your readers know, are 
packed into a basket of a certain Bize, so large 
and small together they fill the basket, but there 
are very few small nuts put into these baskets 
when it is intended that they should represent 
money, The small nuts are dried, that is to 
say, the nut from the eDd of the pod and all that 
drop tff the trees verv often get mouldy and 
wormy. All these are sent to the Liverpool market 
and we are told that we must be satisfied because 
we will cot pay anything approaching 7d a lb. for 
the fresh kola, whioh for ohemical purposes, as it 
contains 75 per cent of water, naturally loses 
weight when treated. But for some reason, which 
I am not quite sure of at present, tbe French 
and the Americans have gone in for green kolas, 
that is to say fresh kolas, and they are buying 
as much as three and four hundred pounds' weight 
at a time. We passed through this stage in 
England, but found that for fluid extraots and 
tinctures we get much better results from the dried 
kola, fend therefore it pays us maoh belter to get 
the dried kola at Is or le Gs a lb. rather limn 
pay 7d per lb. for the fresh kola, plus tbe extra 
carriage of tbe baskets being carried on d«ok to 
ensure tbe kolas arriving in a fresh, eound state. 
It is fortunate for the West Indian plaoters who 
obtained seed early from me that they can eell 
their fresh kolas picked ofi tbe tree at euch a 
1 high price. They line (he baskets and oase6 with 
leaves and ee:ure the package as well as they can 
and in a few days they arrive »t the ports of the 
United States. Tbe last West Indian mail 
brought 30 cwt. of fresh kolas to Southampton 
packed in 30 baskets. 
One more eubject and I think I have exhausted 
the new commercial products, and that is Coca 
Leaves. — Enormous quantity s of leaves are comirg 
: from Java. Tbey are very good leaves ; and 1 
had a visit from a broker in Amsterdam (who 
came over here just at the time cf the great fall 
in prioe of the cocoa paste or crudj 0000a.*) He 
asked me if I oould buy leaves, as one of tbe 
brokers had sent him to me. I said that tbeie 
was only one firm in Europe who could treat them 
advantageously. I offered to give bim tbe name 
of this firm and he said at onoe : " Tbe broker 
who sent me on to you told me I might rely upon 
what you said and I see that it is right, becauee 
it is only to this one firm that I am able to sell 
my cooa leaves." I replied at once : " Beturn to 
this firm and try and make a contract with them, 
because there is no one else who has sufficient 
oapacity and knowledge cf the prooess of treating 
the crude coca leaf to buy your leaves." Some 
of the firms in England watch for the hydrochlo- 
rate of cocaine to go down in price ; they then 
buy up all the cocaine they can get and then 
repurify it if necessary and stamp it with their 
own brand, because they inform me of the loss in 
treating tbe 000a leaf. As you quote Mr. Howard 
in your paper (also the T.A. for tbis month) they do 
not know how to crystallise the prcduot that they 
get from the leaves in the same proportion that 
the German bouse does, who almost commands 
the market. Hence none of our Engheh or French 
makers of cocaine will buy the leaves for fear 
someone may say " What becomes of the leaves ?" 
My reply is that they are used in medicine and 
for making preparations mixed with wine ; they 
also go for sweetmeats and lozenges — Your truly. 
THO. CHBISTY. 
LIBERIAN COFFEE PLANTING. 
Siangodde, Auguet 23rd. 
Dear Sir, — The present South-weBt monroon 
is not Lkely to last long, and a few dry weeks 
will enable those about to plant during tbe North- 
east rains to prepare their lands. In several 
places felling has been going on, the burning to 
follow as soon as a dry week sets in. 
* What has cocoa paste or crude cocoa to do with 
coca leaves?— tbe reference is we suppose, a mere, 
coirjcidence.—Ep. 
