874 
THE TROMCAL AGRICULTURIST. 
. [June i, 1891 
by any measure he may proijose, henefioiently 
affect the prospects of your planters as regards 
the trade outside of America, — London Cor, 
❖ 
UEYON TEA IN EGYPT. 
Messrs. Edgar Kirby & Co., of Alexandria have 
received from the Ceylon Tea Growers* Association 
a sample of tea very similar in appearance and 
practically of about the same value as a small 
quantity of tea from the Gartmore ebtate in Ceylon 
which was sold a lew weeks ago in London at the 
fancy price of 10£. 12s. 6d. per lb. 
The small sample received by Messrs. Edgar 
Kirby & Co. is a sample of tea from one of the 
estates of ihe Ceylon Tea Growers’ association of 
which a small consigament has been forwarded for 
sale in London but, of course, it is impossible to 
foretell wherever buyers will again be found willing 
to pay price of upwards of 13s. per ounce. The 
tea in question is of marvellous fragrance and Messrs. 
Edgar Kirby & Co, will be pleased to submit the 
sample for inspection to any connoisseurs who 
may favour them with a visit at their offices. 
We may also mention that Messrs. Edgar Kirby 
& Co. are now daily expecting a further consign- 
ment of new tea from ihe last crop grown on 
the Ceylon Tea Growers' Association’s estates. — 
Egyiitian Gazette. 
VALENT YN'S IlISTOEY OP COFFEE. 
[This might as well appear in the Literary 
Eegister before it is lost altogether. — Cor.] 
“ Ceffee which makes the politician wise 
And see thio’ all taiuRS with his half-shut eyes.”— Pora. 
TO TUB Enrron of the Ceyfon Times. 
Dear Sir,— I semi ycu for publicatiou, if you think 
it would be geneially interesting, a traQ,slation tVona 
the Dutch of Valeutyn’s history of Cqfiee. It would 
be perhaps necessary for me to meutioii, that Val- 
entyii lived in the early part of the 17th Century. 
As a Dutch Minister of the Gospel he visited a 
oreat many parts ol the world, and the kcowledge 
and information he thus obtaieed of those countries, 
he has given us in live folio volumes, entitled "Keurlyk 
JJeschryvinc/ van Choromandel, Eeyu, Airacan, Bengal, 
Mocha, #c'., A. D. 1727.” There is also a history of 
Ceylon comprised in the above w'ork which I believe 
has not yet been translated into Enghsh ; but it is 
however when ireatiiig of the affairs of Mocha, that 
he enters into a description of that country and 
gives a lengthened account cf the Coffee tree and 
Its uses. For the sake of couvenieuce, I have divided 
the entire chapter into several parts, which I will 
tend you from time to time. It will be seen that 
Wlcntyn has taken great pains to bring together 
all the ialoruiation he could obtain on the subject; 
am) on the whole, a great many curious facts and 
circuinsSaoces are mentioned by him, in respect ot 
(Juffeo and Coffee bibbers, which are deserving 
of notice, and would no doubt afford tome amiisoment 
to the public in general, and your up-country Coffee 
nlanting friends in particular. With these briet re- 
mark-- 1 suljj in my lirst instillment, hoping jonr 
rca-Jetd would excuse any melegaucies and incorrectness 
of expression 1 may havo falieii into, in cUi,leavouriiig 
to preserve the spirit and give the exact meaning of 
the original. , , 
1 am, dear «ir, yours very truly, 
IL D. 
August Ibth, 185(1. 
° Tin-: CoJ-'i-KB TTu-:k and its Uses. 
/'•/•cmi I'ulenli/n’.t Jiencription of Mocha, 
General description of Iho Colfeo Trco-lts cultiva- 
tion in Auiboina &c, — i’lio Arabian mode of planting 
Derivation of the word ColLo-lts preparation lor 
use — Tha Author takes tea with an Indian Minister 
for the first time in his life, and finds it no better 
than Hooy-water (infusioo of Hay) and, three years 
alter, in 1684, takes .another sip of the same beverage 
in Eotteraam. 
“ Inasmuch as Coffee has now become the prin- 
cipal Article of Commerce, and has drawn so many 
strangers to Mocha, it would not, 1 think, ha an 
unprofitable task were I to attempt a description of 
the Tree, its fruit, and of its use. 
There is a striking difference between the tree 
grown in its native soil in Arabia, and those grown 
in Batavia, Amboiua, and elsewhere from plants 
obtained from Mocha. 
In Arabia the Coffee tree attains a height of from 
10 to 12 feet, and isfrtml to 5 inches in diameter; 
but is tender and weak, though easy of being trans- 
planted. 
In 1707 I took .six plants with me to Amboina, • 
of which I retained two, and jtrssented the rest to 
some of my friends there. 
From these plant.s, and a few others which were 
brought there a year previously by the Governor of 
the place Mr. Vanderstel, all the gardens cf Amboina 
were in a very short time well snpplied. In the 
third year after the planting of my trees (which 
were but a year old when I brought them with me) 
they yielded more fruit than I and many others had 
occasion for, whilst the num’oer of trees in my garden 
did not amount to more than sixty. I f umd the fruit 
very tasteful and delicious and cot quite so inBijiid 
Gs that of Batavia, and since this peiiod their sprung 
up a great many' more Plantations carefully laid out 
by tha Natives in Amboina and beyond it. 
With the view of giving the Trees a thick stem, I 
cut them short, not a lowing them to rise higher 
than a large Alboruyn, scarcely 5 or 6 feet high. By 
this m'-ans they became very productive and yielded 
nu abundant crop. 
Their stems assumed the thickness of about a man’s 
arm, while the bark partook of a light brown colour 
and a somewhat rugged and uneven appearauc”, the 
leaf resembling that of the Citron tree though not quite 
S3 sharp punted and thick and the colour of a daik 
green {donker groen.) 
I made a trial with one of the Trees to ascertain 
whether it could be made to rise higher in Amboina 
than on it.s native soil, or at hast, to know to what 
height it could be made to rise, when I found that 
it atlained a height of about 12 feet, losing in a 
corresponding degree in girth of stem which was 
scarcely 5 or 6 inches in thickness, so thai it was 
not equal to sustain the weight of its iieavy tuft {Kruin) 
with a goodly load of fruit, in fact the tree se emed 
bent nearly to breaking, and would, perhaps, have 
snapped for the slightest breeze, but for the prec aution 
I took to prop it up. 
This tree might also bo said to resemble a young 
apple tree of 7 or 8 years. It looks always green, 
never shedding all its leaves at one acd the same 
t-me and it blooms, and bears truit nearly all the year 
round, ripe and green berries being always found on 
the trees. 
The nethermost branches have a tendency to shoot 
up'.vards, presenting sometimes the appearance of a 
pretty tufc or crown. 
To such a branch there are generally from 10 to 12 
leaves, two by two {Tivee aan Twee) at a small distance 
Ironi each other; the blossoms which are white assimi- 
late with tho Jessamine and impart an agreeable 
odour. The flower consists ot five little petals which 
sjpront from between the stem and the roots of the 
leaves; Irom this proceed the fiuit, which in size can 
bo compared to a Coenioelie (Ooruel-friiit). It is first 
grooi', then almost red, and eventually assumes a dark 
brown colour, when it is in a fit stite to be picked 
and exposed in the .sun to dry. 
It has an outer black husk, or parchment, which, 
when shelled, two idle beans are found closely joined 
to each other aud enveloped in a thin pellicle {zie^ 
*Ono of the Moluccas or Spice Islands. 
