COFFEE VARIETIES IN PORTO RICO. 17 
favorable ratio shown by any variety tested. A representative bean 
is 12 to 13 millimeters long by 8 to 9 millimeters broad, fairly plump, 
with the concave face furrowed with a broadly open suture. One 
thousand Liberica beans were found to weigh more than an equal 
number of Maragogipe, the largest of the Arabian group. The bean 
is of a greenish straw color, and is wrapped in silver skin of glisten- 
ing clay color. Two samples of marketable coffee were found to 
contain 1,612 and 1,786 beans per pound, respectively. 
When the very heavy reduction in weight from cherry to market- 
able bean is considered in connection with the individual yield, and 
also the wider spacing required for trees of this species, it will be 
seen that the harvesting is costly and the yield per acre very light. 
Considering further the difficulty of harvesting, due to height, if the 
trees are untopped, and of pulping, there is little to warrant the 
planting of this variety. 
EXCELSA. 
Excelsa is said 30 to have been discovered in 1905 by Aug. Chevalier 
in West Africa, in the region of the Chari River, not far from Lake 
Tchad. In writing of it in Java, Doctor Cramer says that it is not 
particular as to soil, and is suited to the same climate as is Liberian. 
but will do very well also in higher altitudes. He states that at 
Bangelan the best field produces 760 to 1,500 pounds per acre. 
Doctor Cramer pronounces its quality good and its growth vigorous, 
and asserts that it is one of the best kinds to grow for produce. 
The first Excelsa coffee in Porto Rico was received by the station 
from the French Government in 1906. Two inarched plants, severed 
from this tree in December, 1912, and set in the field in May, 1913, 
were 22J and 23^ feet high in June, 1922. The trees began to bear 
in 1917 and made an average yield of 13 liters of cherries each in 
the season of 1921. Fiftv-four trees, the seed of which was received 
from Bangelan, Java, in November and December, 1915, were set m 
the field in August and September, 1917. These have made very 
vigorous growth (PI. VIII, fig. 1), attaining an average height of 
10.9 feet in June, 1922, and having an average spread of 9.1 feet. 
At this time the height of the tallest tree was 18-J feet and its spread 
1Q| feet. The spread of the broadest tree was 14 feet with a corre- 
sponding height of llf feet. The only pruning given these trees 
up to this time consisted in the removal of suckers. Doctor Cramer, 
however, who has had extensive experience with Excelsa coffee in 
Java, where hundreds of acres are planted to it, in his correspondence 
with the office, advises topping at 3 or 4 feet when young in order to 
develop the lower primary laterals. When these have attained con- 
siderable size an upright is allowed to develop and continue the 
growth of the tree to a height of 12 feet. It is again topped and 
thereafter kept at this height to permit of picking from ladders. 
Doctor Cramer also advises the removal of all suckers, not only from 
the main trunk, but likewise from the primary laterals. Topping is 
necessary for all members of the Liberian group to facilitate picking. 
30 Coffees of the Dutch East Indies. Dr. P. J. S. Cramer. Tea and Coffee Trade Jouv., 
TOl. 36, No. 1. p. 25. (19.1JU 
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