June 2, 1902.] 
THE TROPICAL AGEICDLTUEIST. 
799 
found to be founded on fallacy. The Havia has no 
light-wingfcd seed, as mahogany and others. On the 
contrary, although the seed is scattered to some 
extent around the parent tree by the bursting of the 
ripe triform pod, it should be reniembered that the 
seed ii in form an exceedingly heavy and oily nut, 
and falls thickly in a circumscribed area. Even there 
it is exceedingly attractive to every four-footed 
creature of the jungle, who devour it greedily. In its 
own forests it owes its preservation only, as I think, 
to the fact that very venomous and large snakes, the 
saracucti, are in the habit of lying in wait about the 
base of these trees in seeding time, and so avfard off 
to a great degree the agonti, Indian rabbits, and 
other rodents. Forest deer, also, in my experience, 
are very destructive to the young plants. In any 
case I have found that Httoia take at least three 
times as long to come to productive size grown 
under forest shade aa under plantation cultivation 
free from top shade. Lateral shade to the extent 
required, at first, for formation of a straight trunk 
form is readily got by allowing intermediate " second 
growth " to come up between the young Hcevia. For 
myself, I have known these trees, when grown in 
the open, seed abundantly in three years, whereas 
they would have taken 10 to 12 to do so in the shade 
of the woods. It is therefore recommended that 
Havia should be systematically grown in cultivated 
plantation. For spacing distance I advise the half 
chain (33ft. by 33ft.) diagooal, as giving more root 
eoope. This gives 40 trees to the acre Besides being 
a good distance, the half chain is of practical advan- 
tage in marking off forest land, as by opening lines 
with the prismatic compass or theodolite, the man 
following can plant the seed to stake as the chain is 
dravrn over the lines. As soon as the young trees attain 
proper trunk form the more light and air they are 
given, and the cleaner they are kept, the stouter and 
quicker will be their growth, and in the fourth to fifth 
yeajt Ihey would be in condition to yield to a first 
tapping for rubber latex — say, by using two cups 
taking on an average a pound (lib.) of rubber during 
the drier season of that period. The empty tins used 
for " preserved milk " answer admirably for this pur- 
pose, as they are ofnboutthe right size, and being 
made of thin tin readily bend to the shape of the 
tree trunk. The operation if carefully done will not 
arrest the growth of the tree. It is rather fhown 
from experience that accumulation of the latex in ths 
bark of the trunk of the trees is augmented thereby. 
For purpose of extraction there has yet, as I think, 
been no better instrument devised than the ordinary 
carpenter's chisel, carefully used with a light mallet. 
The cuts (three rblique cnt.s one above another, 
should be clean cut, and should not penetrate into 
the wo«d of the ti'ee. Caution should be exercised 
in this respect, as if the wood is injured certain 
species of boring beetles attack the tree. The spac- 
ing should be about a sp^n apart, one circle round 
the trunk of the tree beginning at the ground suiface 
for each day's lapping, and bo giving an increased 
number of cups in use as the tree grows in circum- 
ference, with proportionate increa se in yield of the 
latex. 
One advantage of the close system of cultivation 
recommended, besides greater economy in working 
is that centrally-placed curing stations can be secured. 
This is necessary in order that the hitcx may be 
quickly treated, so soon as it is taken fiom the trees, 
or much of it will become coagulated before it could 
be subjected to the smoke-curing process, and so lose 
the higher market value- 
The Hcevia is naturally a large tree, under favourable 
conditions attaining a girth of 12ft, in the bole. To 
stint it in matter of root space or scope will be 
found to be false economy. I would, therefore, 
strongly deprecate closer planting than that recom- 
rnended— half chain (33ft. by 33ft.), 40 to the acre. 
Planted and cultivated at this distance, and giving 
say, 5lb. of rubber per tree at 3s. only per pound, it 
would yield at the rate of some f 30 per acre for sale 
of rubber alone, apart from value of the seed crop, 
to be converted into oil worth ;e25 to £30 per ton,-^ 
The Contract Journal, J&n. di, 1902. 
COFFEE CULTIVATION. "-^ 
The Cultivation of Ccliee throughout the world ia 
the subject of an interesting geographical study, illus- 
trated by maps, by M. fl. Lecomte, in La Geographies 
June 1901. The subject is treated in three sections; 
the geography of the natural species of Coffee ; the dis- 
tribution of coffee-growing throughout the world ; and 
the consumption of coffee in various countries. 
The coffee-plant belongs to the genus Coffea, of the 
family Eubiaceffi. The latter, which is the fourth in 
the numerical importance of its species, is distributed 
chiefly in the warm regions, and no travelling botanist 
can fail to remark the gieat abundance of the Rnbia- 
ceEB in tropical forests. This family is, on the other 
hand, poorly represented in temperate lands ; although 
it includes, in all, more than 300 genera and 4,000 
species, there are no more than 6 genera and 60 species 
in France, and only 14 species in Belgium. The tro. 
pical florals incomparably richer in the Rubiaceffl ; 
indeed, it would be easy to show that the family is 
oue of the most extended in tropical regions. Oscar 
Drude states that 75 per cent, of its species are tropi- 
cal and affect especially the hot, damp forests. Of 
712 species of the Congo Free State, described by 
Durand and Schiuz, the Eubiacere come first with 75 
species, the Leguminosre second with 73, then the 
Composite with 64, and the Labiatss with 33. This 
family includes a considerable number of useful plants, 
e.g. Cinchona, Cephalis, IpecacuaitJia, liulia tinctorum, 
Uncaria Gambir, etc. 
The species which is most cultivated is Cofea araUca 
L. Notwithstanding the general opinion, it is im- 
probable that the shrub is a native of Arabia, where 
it has never been found wild ; it has, on the other 
hand, been long known in Abyssinia, where it is called 
L'oun. The Abbe Rayual thinks that it is a native of 
Abyssinia, and that it was carried into Arabia by 
Ethiopian conquerors ; and Charles-Jacques Poncet, 
who travelled in Ethiopia in the years 1698, 1699, and 
1700, reports the cultivation of coffee in that country. 
This is not the only species which is native to 
Africa ; a large number are known both on the east 
and west coasts. On the west coast there are 
22 species. The indigenous species of Asia are all 
mountain plants. 
Of the numerous species of coffee the arabiea is the 
only one largely cultivated, though recently one or 
two other species have been grown to a small extent ; 
but all the species which can be utilised belong to 
that region in Africa between 15" N, and 15° S. 
latitude. The Asiatic varieties have no commercial 
value, and in Amercia where it is so much grown it ia 
not indigenous. 
Till the beginning of the eighteenth century Arabia 
held a monopoly in the cultivation of coffee. It was 
shipped to Europe direct from Arabia by the cape, 
or was purchased in Egypt, whither it had been 
brought across the Red Sea. Attempts to grow it 
from the bean were so unsuccessful that it was sup! 
posed that the Arabians soaked the beans in boiling 
water or dried them in hot furnaces. At the end of 
the seventh century however, the beans germinated 
perfectly at Batavia, so that to the Dutch belong the 
honour of first acclimatising the coSee plant outside 
Arabia. 
The Governor of Bafavia sent a plant to Amsterdam 
and a specimen was brought to France bv Lieutenant 
de Ressons. It was placed in the Jardin des Plantes 
at Paris and bore flowers and fruit, but did not live 
long. In 1714 the magistrate.? of Amsterdam gave a 
new plant to Louis xiv., and it was sent to the royal 
garden in Paris. From this coffee plant sprang those 
which were transplanted and have multiplied in the 
French colonies. The first attempt at acclimatisa- 
tion was made at Martinique in 1716, but this wag 9, 
