The Cultivation of Liberian Coffee, 287 
of the West Indian colonies. This interest in the new 
cultivation will doubtless be increased, for the present 
crisis in the colonial sugar trade renders it necessary for 
many planters to look about them for new produces, and 
those, who from choice or necessity decide to continue to 
cultivate the cane, will soon have brought home to them 
the wisdom of not depending entirely on the culture of 
one staple. On most sugar estates there are waste lands 
on which one or more of the new products might easily 
be grown ; and if these lands were now clothed with 
cacao or coffee trees, how different would be the planters' 
outlook from what it is now ! 
The cultivation of Liberian coffee has much to recom- 
mend it ; the tree is vigorous and productive, and, with 
careful planting a small crop may be reaped in three 
years. Liberian coffee {Coffee liberica) belongs to the 
natural order, Rubiacese, and it is indigenous to the West 
Coast of Africa, where it was discovered by AFZELIUS, 
A variety called Cape Coast coffee is sometimes des- 
cribed ; but the differences between the two plants are 
so small as to render it undesirable to make any distinc- 
tion in their names. 
The tree, if allowed to grow unrestrained, would 
attain to a height of 20 or 30 feet, with a straight central 
stem and several slightly smaller but similar ones starting 
off at, or near to, the ground. Looked at from a distance 
the tree appears of a pyramidal shape, and the dense 
and large foliage, of a dark but rich glossy green, forms 
a most pleasing contrast to the snow-white flowers and 
the bright red fruit. 
The branches of a fully grown tree will spread out to 
a distance of at least 5 feet from the stem ; and thus 
