THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[December r, i8go. 
416 
the fruit is allowed to lie in moderately deep layers) 
for two days before being pul|Ded ; after pulping the 
coffee is kept four days in fermenting cisterns; it is then 
well washed and cleaned, and allowed to dry for a clay ; 
it is then heaped up, and allowed to remain four days 
more, for the so-called “ after fermentation,” after 
which it is perfectly dried in the sun. 
Over de smaak valt niet te twisten (There is no dis- 
puting on matters of taste) has often been said, but I 
assure you that coffee prepared in the above-de-cribed 
manner, when properly roasted and made, can compete 
with the finest produce of Moka. 
There is something peculiar in the harvest times. 
They generally happen in two periods : the former lasts 
from the beginning of December to the half of March, 
and occurs thus in the driest time of the year in 
Liberia, the second crop is gathered in the months of 
July, August and September. According to Buttkofer 
July is generally a rather dry mouth, but from the 
beginning of the latter half of August to the end of 
September is reckoned the wettest time of the year. 
When the separate plants of Liberian coffee in a plan- 
tation are carefully examined, a considerable difference 
can be observed among them, as well in the leaf as in 
the fruit, and the due selection of planfs from which 
to take seed for propagation is a matter of much 
importance. It is not sufficient to choose out the largest 
berries from a great quantity of fruit, but the trees 
the most suitable should be first selected and the 
largest berries of these selected trees should be chosen 
for sowing in the nursery. In this way alone is it 
possible to improve (veredelen=to ennoble) the Liberian 
coffee here. 
Besides the ordinary varieties, I saw on the plant- 
tation Tjomas (Buitenzorg) a coffee plant amongst 
the Liberian coffee which had much the appearance of a 
hybrid between the ordinary coffee and the Liberia 
variety. The plant bad some peculiarities of both. lu 
luxuriance it rivalled the strongest Liberian coffee, the 
leaves though as large as those of the lastnamed 
possessed a softer texture, and the form of those of Java 
coffee, but the most remarkable particular is that the 
pulp had not the coarse and disagreeable taste of the 
Liberian coffee, but was soft and sweet like that of .Java 
coffee; the size of the berry being the medium size of 
the Liberian coffee. 
At Tjikeumeuh (ohikeumeuh) there are some hybrids 
which are the result of au artificial fructification between 
Liberia and Meuado-coffee. 
The young plants of which the mother plant Liberian 
coffee is fertilized witht he pollen (stuifmeel) of Menado 
coffee, up to the present take after the latter variety, 
whilst with the contrary (treatment), when the Menado 
coffee is fertilized with the pollen of the Liberian kind, 
the resulting plants resemble the Liberian plant.^ In 
both cases they rtsemble at first the male progenitor. 
Thus is the Liberian coffee cultivation prosecuted 
and extended throughout this country with great 
energy. To my knowledge there is already an extent of 
over 3,000 bouws of Liberian coffee planted in the 
subdivision of Buitenzorg, and there are vast tracts of 
land in the lower lying districts, now waste, that with 
due cultivation and manuring can be turned into 
flourishing coffee estates. [Aofc hy Translator . — 10 kat- 
tis=l gantong ; 10 gantongs=:i 1 pikul 133Jlb.] 
A MEnonANT of Campinas, S. Paulo, has been 
fined by the authorities for mixing roasted maize 
with his ground coffee. And this in the very heart 
of the S. Paulo coffee district! Some people have 
no regard lor appearances and this merchant should 
have been hung . — Ilio News. 
Coconuts.— It is a pity that in Bengal the 
planting of the coconut is not more largely fol- 
lowed in the Sunderbuns and on the seaboard of 
Cuttack, where they would probably, under proper 
cultivation, yield as plentifully as in Oeylou . — Indian 
J(jricuUufi>tt, Got. lUh, 
CEYLON TEA IN AMERICA 1 
GOOD NEWS FOR CEYLON PLANTERS. 
Guaeantee Given fob Sale of Pure 
Ceylon Tea Only. 
The following is an extract from a letter of 
Messrs. Watison & Farr to the Hon. W. W. 
Mitchell, under date New York, 26th September ; — 
“ We are now actively at work preparing to push 
the interests of the new Company and feel quite 
confident that we shall make it a success and 
create a large and growing demand for your teas 
in this country.” 
We have also received a copy of the pros- 
pectus of the new Company with a capital 
of a million dollars. Besides the names already 
given as Directors in New York, we have all the 
Ceylon Directors on as a Board of Management 
while the following extracts show the object of the 
Company : — 
The object for which this Company is formed is that 
pure Ceylon tea may be introduced into the United 
States of America and Canada, or elsewhere, as may be 
found defirabia and that its sale may be widely extended. 
The present consumption of tea in America amounts 
to about ninety million pounds per annum, of which 
about eighty-two millions are from China and Japan, 
but it is hoped that, if once Ceylon tea get a footing in 
America, its excellence will create a taste for such tea, 
and lead to its ultimately taking the place of many of 
the teas of rival producing countries, in the same way 
as has been the case in Great Brff.ain. The 
services of Mr, R. E. Pineo (formerly a planter 
of long experience in Ceylon) have been secured by 
the Company, as Manager and Secretary in America, 
and from his long connection with Ceylon and America, 
it may be reasonably hoped that the results will justify 
the selection of Mr. Pineo for this appointment. A 
Cen'ral Tea Emporium has now been iu successful 
operation for nearly a year, at Broadway and 22nd 
S'reet, New York City, and a large amount of tea 
has already been sold and distributed with excellent 
result s. It is intended, as soon as possible, to open 
further emporiums in all tiio large cities and to 
appoints agents throughout the country. The welfare 
and future prosperity of Ceylon are largely dependent 
on the success of this enterprise, and the cordial 
co-operation of all interested in the Island is confidently 
looked for. 
All this shows how entirely honourable and above- 
board has been the action of Messrs. Watteon & 
Farr, and considering bow much they have already 
done without a cent of remuneration, and considering 
also the fact that they aro to bear the large 
expense of advertising and other preliminary 
expenses, out of the shares allotted to them, we 
think that they in every way deserve well of 
Ceylon Tea planters. Mr. Grinlintoa’s personal 
report will place this in a clear light. 
— 
A Tidal Supply of Electricity. — A French engi- 
neer, M, Deooeur, proposes to supply electric power 
to Paris. He would generate the required electricity 
by utilising the tides. For this purpose he intends 
to construct, near Havre, two large basins joined to 
each other, into one of which the sea at fiood tide 
flows over a dam, while during ebb it flows out 
of the other into the sea again. At the inlet and 
outlet will be erected a number of powerful turbines 
for transmitting the energy of the water. The 
mechanical energy produced for transmission to Paris 
is estimated by M. Decceur at 42,000 horse-power. 
Perhaps the calculations have not been correctly 
made, as it costs something to build such works, 
and the result cannot bemuoh.— Mechanic, 
