OHAP. IV.] 
WEST INDIES. 
hi 
COFFEE. 
So many treatises have been written on the bis* 
rory of coffee; its introduction into the West In¬ 
dies has been so fully traced by some writers, and 
its properties so ably investigated by others, (above 
all, by my learned friend Dr. Benjamin Moseley), 
as hardly to leave me the possibility of offering any 
thing new on those subjects. The few observa¬ 
tions therefore which I shall present to my read¬ 
ers concerning this berry, will relate principally to 
its culture; and these being chiefly'founded on ac¬ 
tual experience, may perhaps afford some useful 
information. 
common indigo plant, and the result has exceeded expectation : “ by 
“ the scalding process (observes Dr. Roxburgh) I have always, on a 
“ small scale, made from the common indigo plant, better indigo than 
“ I could by fermentation, and in one fourth of the time ; and what 
“ is also of great importance, without the smallest degree of the per- 
“ nicious effluvia which attends the manufacture of indigo by fermen- 
“ tation ; and moreover, the twigs and leaves themselves of the indi- 
“ go plant burn fiercely, after having been well dried, and will carry 
“ on the operation without requiring any great addition of other fuel.” 
In another place Dr. Roxburgh observes, “ that the Hindoos 
“ throughout the northern provinces or circars make all their in- 
lt digo by means of hot water, and precipitate with a cold in- 
“ fusion of the bark of th z jamb along tree, yet, notwithstanding the 
c( inferiority of this bark as an astringent, when its effects are compa- 
“ red with those of lime-water, I have always found their indigo to 
>! 5 > e of a very excellent quality, and very light 5 a cubic inch weighing 
