PLANTS AND MAN 
parently it is of African origin; it still grows wild in 
Abyssinia and in the Sudan, but notwithstanding its 
name it has never been found growing indigenously in 
Arabia. But the Arabs apparently were the first to 
appreciate the value of the coffee bean. By the fifteenth 
century, the Arabs were drinking fragrant coffee, and 
by the end of the seventeenth century the coffee bean was 
introduced into western Europe. The popularity of the 
new beverage may be judged by the rapid multiplication 
of “coffee houses” in London and other European cities. 
The first coffee plants grown in America were planted by 
the Dutch at Surinam (Dutch Guiana) in 1718. The 
plant thence made its way to the French West Indies, 
reaching Martinique in 1720 and Guadeloupe in 1730. 
Since then it has spread widely through the tropics of 
America and Asia, Brazil and Java being important cen¬ 
ters of cultivation. In tropical agriculture, coffee takes 
the place occupied by the grape in Europe and the tea 
plant in China. 
Potato (Solatium tuberosum) : The potato is perhaps 
the most valuable plant gift from the New World to the 
Old. When Columbus reached America, the cultivation 
of the potato was practised, with every appearance of 
ancient usage, in regions of temperate climate from Chile 
to Mexico, whence it spread northward to the regions 
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