July i, 1890.] 
THE TROPSCAL AGRICULTURIST, 
25 
Against these good points we may set the follow- 
ing:— 
1st. That this species gives very little return till at 
last the 5th year, while in low lying districts some 
return is got from Arabics in the 2nd year. 
2nd. That the value in the London market from a 
sample lately sent home, is about 10 per cent lower 
than that of ordinary coffee. 
3rd. That in Districts under the South-West mon- 
soon, whose flowering season is in March and April, 
the crop instead of beginning to ripen in October and 
finishing in January or February, takes a whole 14 
months to ripen. The flowering season is the same as 
the other, but though some berries will turn ripe in the 
following April, much of it will not be ready to gather 
till July. Thus the tree carries two crops at the same 
time, and all mixed together in the same branches. 
Sometimes at the end of the spring, we may see 
at the .same time the crop of the previous season 
as large as iilums, and partially turning red, 
the crop of the current season the size of peas, and 
a further sprinkling of the curious 8 petalled, heavi- 
ly scented blossoms as large as the palm of a child’s 
hand. All these mixed together among tho largo 
dark glo.ssy leaves give the tree a most rich and 
handsome appearauce. 
There are now one or two points about which some 
information may be of interest. 
Picking . — There is no difficulty about this, a notched 
bamboo enables the cooly to get up among tho 
branches, and he theu strips off all that is ripe, or 
nearly so (taking care not to rip off the small berries) 
dropping it all on the ground, and collecting after- 
wards into baskets. 
It takes 4 bushels of these huge cherries to make 
one of Parchment (instead of 2 as with Arabica), 
but even so, the fruit being so large, a cooly can pick 
quite twice as much as of the other, and the cost per 
ton of clean, would be much the same. 
Curing . — I have seen advertisements of special 
pulpera made in Ceylon for Liberian coffee and have 
no doubt that they are as effective as they are re- 
presented. Anyone growing a quantity of this coffee 
would have to employ machinery. 
I have tried experiments on a small scale with my 
cherry, and found that it was no use to pass the stuff 
through an ordinary disc pnlper (set of course very 
wide) because the husk never (at this elevation) gets 
soft enough to squeeze out below the chop but rods up 
into a hard ball, and comes out with the parchment 
in front ; and I found that when the chop was set 
wide enough to allow the husk to pass, the bean went 
with it. Moreover the work was so hard that four 
coolies were completely tired out in pulping 2 bushels ! 
Then I found that the simplest way of getting at 
the parchment was to put it up in heaps in the pulp- 
ing house to rot. This may seem barbarous, but the 
colour of the clean coffee so treated was quite as good 
as some treated in the ordinary way, indeed the parch- 
ment envelope of the bean is so thick and strong that 
it completely protects it from injury from heating. 
Moreover this kind of coffee will carry nothing but a 
dead whitey-green colour no matter how the curing 
may be done. If allowed to dry in cherry some heavy 
peeler might perhaps break it up, but it seems to me 
as hard and tough as the very best road metal, and I 
much doubt whether a coffee curing firm would un- 
dertake it on the usual terms. 
As regards the drinking qualities of this variety, I 
can safely say that no one who had not previously 
been told would know that be was not drinking the 
pucka article, the same quantity of powder goes further 
and I cannot notice any inferiority of qua'ity. Un- 
suspecting guests have often said “ may I have another 
cup of this excellent coffee ” and they usually look 
somewhat surprised when told what it was. If you 
try to sell it iu the bazaar whole and clean (looking 
something like date stones in shape,) natives decline 
to buy it. “ This one kind bad imitation coffee ” 
they will say, but if you smash it up and mix a little 
dirt with it they will take it readily, and never find out 
tbe diSeteuce. 
Planting . — Owing to the seedling throwing out a 
strong, deep, tap root something like that of a jack 
tree, I am inclined to think tbat when a pantation 
has to be made it would be better to have Ithe pits 
made ready by May, and then to put one or more 
seeds in each pit as early in the South-West monsoon 
as possible, so that the seedlings may get established 
before the end of the North-East monsoon in De 
comber. But if not grown to any great size they 
can be lifted with a little special care from nur- 
series in the ordinary way. Considering the fact that 
Liberian Coffee does not come into bearing till 
2 or 3 years after the other, it may probably be a 
wise plan for one going in for its cultivation, to pit 
his clearing 4 by 4 and to plant Arabica, afterwards 
putting in the giant kind down every other row, mak- 
ing them thus 8 by 8. The Liberian is much too 
robust to take any notice of its little friend, while by 
the time it has come into bearing yon may safely assume 
tbat the Arabica has given what it can in maiden crops, 
and unless heavily manured has already made arrange- 
ments for returning to a better world where there is 
no fnngus. 
It is said that the civilised but effete nations will 
one day (when magazine rifles are common) have to 
yield to the iron coustitutioned African, who can more 
than hold his own physically, and multiply in any 
climate, and here shortly we may perhaps see our 
poor old worn out King, eaten up with disease, and 
quite unable to do anything but keep himself alive, 
deposed in favour of his strong and healthy African 
cousin. I shall be delighted at any time to show the 
trees on which my experience has been gained to any 
one who takes an interest in the subject, or to give 
any further information iu writing. Enclosing my card 
as a possible means of communication . — Madras Mail, 
May 10th. 
The Indian Tea E.xpokt Season it will be 
seen from our special telegram, elsewhere, has 
closed with a total of shipments to all quarters of 
103,642,000 lb. This is about millions below the 
estimate for the season, which stood originally at 
106,941,160 lb. 
The “ SiSAH Hemp ” Plant is a native of 
Mexico, and Dr. Trimen does not think it has been at 
any time introduced to Ceylon ; it is therefore very 
unlikely that anyone should have seen it growing 
in the N. C. Province, as our correspondent Mr. 
P. Cummins supposed he had. But who is to be first 
to try the plant on a considerable scale, and still 
more who is to follow in the footsteps of Mauritius 
planters, in utilizing local aloe fibre and making 
shipments to try the market on a considerable scale ? 
The Victoria Begia in the “ Gordon Gardens ” 
has not only flowered and fruited, but is repro- 
ducing itself in an immense number of self-sown 
seedlings which Mr. Nock — who is in town for a 
day or two — describes as perfectly healthy. These 
seedlings will be available for distribution o 
applicants who will take the trouble to experiment 
with them. The seed in future might be scattered 
iu the Lotus pond, near Skinner’s road, and over 
other pieces of water in or near Colombo, in the 
hope of spreading so notable a plant in our midst. 
Cinnamon. — A discovery has been made which 
shows that the love of our ancestors for drinks 
spiced with cinnamon was fully justified. What 
were not the Dutch ready to do to procure cinnamon 
and other spices for their mulled wines, and what 
wonders of navigation did they not accomplish in 
ihoir lumbering vessels in order to fill the spice- 
boxes of their housewives ? According to the Paris 
correspondent of a oontemporary. Dr. Chamberland, 
M. Pasteur’s chief assistant, has just discovered 
that cinnamon is fatal to the typhoid microbe, 
which must infest the sluggish waters of the 
Netherlands. This will be news for oinnaujoa 
growers.— H. efi C, Mail. 
