COFFEE VARIETIES IN PORTO RICO. 1$ 
Excelsa is the most promising of the Liberian group of coffees so 
far tested at the station. Its good cup quality, vigorous growth, 
comparatively low (for the Liberian group) ratio of reduction in 
weight, indications of productivity, and resistance to the leaf miner 
recommend it for trial, especially in localities which suffer from 
ravages of this pest. 
Dewevkei. 
This species is indigenous in African Congo, whence seed was 
received by the experiment station in September, 1911. The sta- 
tion planting shows an extremely wide variation in type, and sug- 
gests a heterogeneous collection of several varieties. Individual trees 
differ in size of foliage ; in color of blossoms, some being white and 
others pale pink; in number of petals, flowers having five, six r 
seven, or as many as eight petals; in size, shape, and color of cherry; 
in size, protrusion, or flatness of navel; in thickness of pulp; in 
color of silver skin ; and in shape of bean. 
In August, 1913, 56 trees were transplanted from the nursery to 
the field, some of the trees then being 3 feet high. Two years later 
the trees had attained an average height of 5-| feet, and annually 
thereafter for five years they were 7f , 9^, 11J, and 14| feet high, re- 
spectively. In another two years the average height was 17^ feet, 
and the tallest trees were about 25 feet high. (PI. VI, fig. 2.) Fully 
developed specimens are said to attain a height of 50 feet. Some 
unpruned trees make a tall columnar growth and develop rather 
frail lateral branches, while others spread into pyramidal form and 
develop very heavy, thick laterals. In plantation practice it is ad- 
visable to limit the height to 12 feet in order to facilitate picking. 
These trees, like the others of the Liberian group, have dark green, 
leathery leaves ranging from 9 to 14 inches in length by 3£ to 6 
inches in breadth, the length usually being 2-J, and in some instances 
3 times the breadth. In general, the leaf shape is subspatulate with 
acuminate base and acute to obtuse apex, and has a slightly wavy 
surface. The foliage is dense, the tree forming a close screen. 
On most of the trees the cherries are more closely clustered and 
their pulp is thinner than is the case with Liberian. Counts of 11 
samples of cherries, picked from eight trees individually, showed 
between 208 and 329 specimens per liter, with an average of 263 
cherries. (PL VII, fig. 1.) In color scheme the cherries are reddish- 
yellow, producing in some a solid effect, or yellow striped with red. 
The individuals differ widely in their season of ripening, and ma- 
ture cherries may be found on some trees during almost any month 
of the year. The major part of the crop has ripened in the winter 
months at the station. 
The trees came into bearing in the winter of 1915-16. The aver- 
age yield for the planting as a whole and the individual yield of four 
of the best trees for that period, and for subsequent years, is given 
in Table 6. On various occasions more than an almud of cherries 
has been picked from a single tree at one picking. The crops of 
1920, 1921, and 1922, taken together, showed an average annual 
yield of over half an almud per tree for 38 per cent of the trees. 
The average bean is intermediate in size between that of the Mara- 
gogipe and the Padang. The ratio of reduction in weight for the 
