52 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
Fig. 1 . — COFFEE TREE IN BEARING. 
Notes on Coffee, and its Culture. 
BY A. O. MOORE. 
The accompanying en¬ 
graving, (Fig. 1,) represents 
a young thrifty Coffee tree 
about ten feet high. The 
plant sometimes attains a 
higlit of twenty feet; hut in 
cultivation it is desirable to 
keep the plant so low that 
all the branches may be 
easily reached; for one of 
the great injuries it sustains 
in careless hands, is the 
breaking of limbs and foli¬ 
age in picking the crop. 
Fig. 2 shows a part of a 
branch, reduced in size, 
having three clusters of the 
fruit. On many branches 
there grow fifteen or twenty 
such clusters, so that if every 
tree were filled to its utmost 
capacity, a very large yield 
would be the result. In 
Costa Rica, one of the 
States of Central America, 
(where I investigated the 
subject, recently, and made 
the accompanying sketches 
from living specimens,) the 
largest amount I heard of 
as the product of one tree, 
was twenty two pounds, 
7 ? but there are many plan¬ 
tations which do not aver¬ 
age more than half or three 
The two domestic beverages most extensively 
used throughout the civilized world, are Coffee 
and Tea. The French and Germans have their 
Wine; the Englishman his Beer; the Irish and 
Americans their Whisky , in which they drink 
each other’s health !!!—but these are the accom¬ 
paniments of the public house, the social gath¬ 
ering, or worse places. The only drinks worthy 
of being brought into the family circle as 
beverages, are the first named two, and one 
other more recently installed, called Chocolate. 
Many well-meaning persons have classed 
Tea and Coffee among the injurious articles of 
diet, “ slow poisons,” “ breeders of headaches,” 
etc. Never having formed the habit of drinking 
either, nor any artificial beverage, I may be al¬ 
lowed to say, that the extremes of all arguments 
are apt to reach into error. The appetite, that 
natural guardian of the stomach, and when un- 
abused and healthy, a reliable one, lias prompt¬ 
ed man to the use of these drinks, until they are 
to be found on almost every civilized table. And 
it is a curious fact that chemists have subse¬ 
quently brought their science to bear on the 
subject, and find that there is a substance pecu¬ 
liar to Coffee, which they name Cafein; also in 
Tea a peculiar property they name Them. 
These two substances are so nearly identical 
that chemical skill can discover in them no dif¬ 
ference. Is it a mere chance that the palate has 
thus, in advance of science, in such different 
products, from different quarters of the globe, 
instinctively in all nations, pointed out the self¬ 
same substance, and claimed it for the human 
system? Yet as our reason is higher than the 
appetite, every wise man will avoid excesses, 
will watch the effect of each article of food on 
his own system, and regard with a jealous eye 
even-' habit , lest habit swerve ais judgment. 
fourths of a pound to the tree, and yet pay ex¬ 
penses. A yield of three or four pounds per 
tree is generally considered a large average. 
of pulpy matter, and several membranous 
coatings. 6, Fig. 2, shows the berry divided so 
that each segment contains a grain, c, Fig. 2, 
gives the two grains as they lie in the berry, but 
with all the enveloping substance rubbed off. 
Each of these is a distinct seed or grain, as may 
be seen at d , Fig. 2, representing the planted 
berry dug up from the ground after it had sprout¬ 
ed, and the two roots had developed; 
The Coffee tree originated in Arabia, and it is 
said, that from a plant brought as a curiosity to 
the Royal Gardens of Paris a century and a 
half ago, a few offshoots were sent to the West 
Indies. Now these islands produce the greater 
part of the world’s supply. About fifty years 
ago, a “ Padre,” or priest, obtained and planted 
a few coffee seeds in his garden in Costa Rica, 
and for twenty years it was only considered as 
a curiosity, but now it is so extensively culti¬ 
vated there that it is the chief article of export, 
and constitutes the main source of individual and 
national wealth. It is being rapidly introduced 
into the other Central American States; indeed, 
in San Salvador I saw the finest plantations, 
though everywhere its cultivation was of a neg¬ 
ligent kind. From this charge, however, I must 
except the American Consul, Dr. Hine, whose 
plantation of 200 acres near San Jose de Costa 
Rica was well kept, and, though young, was a 
charming sight. 
Its cultivation is a beautiful and pleasant em¬ 
ployment. It succeeds best among the fine airy 
highlands, where the climate is temperate and 
healthy throughout the year. In itself, it is re¬ 
markably beautiful, having a luxuriance of dark, 
glossy, evergreen foliage. When the blossoms, 
in their season, white as the new fallen snow, 
cover the whole tree, and when the ripened 
crop loads the branches with dark red clusters, 
Fig. 
-COFFEE BERRY AND MANNER OF GROWTH. 
a, Fig. 2, is the coffee berry of natural size. 
In color, shape, and size, it is very like a black- 
lieart cherry. This bears no resemblance to 
what we know as Coffee, but each such berry 
contains two of the grains, enveloped in a mass 
there is a richness and brilliancy unparalleled by 
any cultivated plant. It is a profitable employ¬ 
ment too. Even as it is conducted by the Costa 
Ricans, the returns from four crops usually 
repay the whole investment with interest. 
