290 TlMEHRI. 
berries. In the Creole species the pulp, being soft, is 
easily separated from the seeds — which form the coffee 
of commerce ; but the pulp of the Liberian fruit is of a 
hard fibrous nature, and hence the increased difficulty of 
pulping operations of which I shall have to treat later. 
Ordinarily two seeds, or ' coffee beans,' are found in 
each berry, and this shows that both of the ovules which 
the flower contained were fertilised by the pollen : the 
well-known coffee ' bean' gives evidence of this arrange- 
ment in that one of its sides, the external, is rounded, 
while the other when it was in contact with its fellow, 
is flat and marked by a longitudinal furrow. But, some- 
times, by abortion or by non-fertilisation of one of the 
ovules, only one of the seeds is developed, and as this 
has the whole of the fruit coverings for its ac- 
commodation, it becomes larger and rounder, being 
indeed, of an oval form. This is the 'pea-berry' 
of commerce, which is supposed to have a better flavour, 
and hence a greater value than the ordinary coffee. 
Machines are made for separating the pea-berry ; and 
the term is found in the market reports with higher 
prices set against it. As a matter of fa6t, however, the 
so called ' pea-berry' is a mistake from beginning to end. 
It is not a pea, and it is not a berry ; it has no finer 
flavour, and no higher value than the ordinary seed ; 
but, inasmuch as it occurs in the Liberian coffee with 
much greater frequency than in the Arabian kind, the 
planters will doubtless be contented to allow the perpetu- 
ation of a popular fallacy which enhances the value 
of some of their produce. 
The plant commences flowering in Dominica at the 
beginning of the year, and it continues in an intermittent 
