Chapter XI: Section I (3)

Irrigation must be frequent during the first year that the plants are removed to the plantation, and may be afterwards advantageously continued at intervals during the dry and hot weather, as a very hot season is found unfavorable to the plant, drying up and destroying the top branches and the extremities of the side shoots; whilst, on the other hand, a very long rain destroys the fruit by swelling it out and rotting it before it can be ripened: hence it is necessary to attend to a good drainage of the plantation, that no water be anywhere allowed to lodge, as certain loss will ensue, not only of the crop of the current year, but most frequently of the trees also, as their roots require to be rather dry than otherwise.

The crop will be ready to gather from October to January, when the ripe berries should be carefully picked from the trees by hand every morning, and dried in the shade, the sun being apt to make them too brittle; they must be carefully turned to prevent fermentation, and when sufficiently dry the husks must be removed, and the clean coffee separated from the broken berries. After being picked out and put aside, and then again dried, it is fit to pack. The first year's crop will be less than the succeeding ones, in which the produce will range from ½ a lb. to 1 lb. in each year.--(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine," vol. xv.)

_Ceylon_.--Coffee is stated to have been introduced into this island from Java, somewhere about the year 1730. It was extensively diffused over the country by the agency of birds and jackalls. In 1821 its cultivation may be said to have partially commenced, and in 1836, it had become widely extended through the Kandyan provinces.

In 1839 not a tree had been felled on the wide range of the Himasgaria mountains. In 1840 a small plantation was, for the first time, formed. In 1846 there were fifty estates, then averaging, each, 200 acres of planted land, and yielding an average crop of 80,000 cwt. of coffee. Every acre is now purchased in that locality, and in large tracts, or there would have been twice the number of estates in cultivation. In 1848, the Galgawatte estate, situate in this range, at an elevation of 4,000 feet, containing 246 acres, of which 72 were planted, was purchased by Mr. R.D. Gerard, for £1,600.

The quantity of land which had been brought under cultivation with coffee in this island in the ten years previous to the last reduction of duty in 1844, was, in round numbers, 25,000 acres; but so rapid was the subsequent increase, that in the succeeding three years, that extent of land was doubled; so that, in 1847, there were upwards of 60,000 acres of land under cultivation with coffee, giving employment to 40,000 immigrant coolies from the continent of India, and upwards of two millions of capital were invested in the cultivation of this staple.

The quantity of land under culture with coffee by Europeans, was about 55,000 acres in 1851. Allowing 20,000 acres to produce the quantity of native coffee exported, and 5,000 for that consumed in the island, the total extent of coffee cultivation in Ceylon, European and native, will be 80,000 acres.

The produce exported in 1849 was 373,593 cwt., while in the year 1836, when attention was first directed to this island as a coffee-producing country, the crop was not more than 60,330 cwt. Large profits were made by the first planters, more capital was introduced, until, between the years 1840 and 1842, the influx of capitalists, to undertake this species of cultivation, completely changed the face of the colony, and enlarged its trade, and the produce of coffee in sixteen years has increased sixfold.

The general culture resembles the practice in Java. Of the Ceylon coffee, that grown about Ramboddi fetches the highest price, from the superiority of the make, shape, and boldness of the berry. The weight per bushel, clean, averages 56 lbs.; 57½ lbs. is about the greatest weight of Ceylon coffee. The lowest in the scale of Ceylon plantation coffee is the Doombera, which averages 54½ lbs., clear, per bushel. The following have been the prices of good ordinary Ceylon coffee in the port of London for the last eight years in the month of January, 1853, 46s. to 48s.; 1852, 40s. to 42s.; 1851, 38s. 6d. to 40s. 6d.; 1850, 56s. 6d. to 57s. 6d.; 1849, 31s. to 32s. 6d.; 1848, 31s. 6d. to 33s.; 1847, 39s. 6d. to 41s. 6d.; 1846, 49s. to 50s.

Forest lands are those usually planted in Ceylon, and the expense attendant on clearing and reclaiming them from a state of nature, and converting them into plantations, is estimated to average £8 per acre. The lowest upset price of crown lands in the colony is £1 per acre.

Coffee planting has failed over a considerable portion of the southern province of the island, where the experiment was tried. The temperature was found to be too equable, not descending sufficiently low at any time to invigorate the plant; which, though growing luxuriantly at first, soon became weak and delicate. Nurseries are established for young plants. The districts in which the coffee is principally cultivated, extend over nearly the whole of the hilly region, which is the medium and connecting link between the mountainous zone and the level districts of the coast.

The mania for coffee planting has recently subsided, in consequence of the barely remunerative returns at which that article has been sold, ascribable partly to over-production, and in some measure, perhaps, to the temporary glut of foreign coffee thrown on the British market by the reduction of the duty. As regards the yield, some estates in Ceylon have produced upwards of 15 cwt. per acre, but it is a good estate that will average seven, and many do not give more than 4 cwt. the acre.

The shipments from Colombo for five years, are stated below, with the class of coffee:--

Plantation. Native. Total.
cwt. cwt. cwt.
1845 75,002 112,889 187,891
1846 91,240 70,991 162,231
1847 106,198 143,457 249,655
1848 191,464 88,422 279,886
1849 243,926 118,756 362,682
1850 198,997 56,692 255,689
1851 220,471 97,091 317,562

While, in 1839, the total value of the exports from Ceylon was only £330,000, in 1850 the value of the single staple of coffee was no less than £609,262, and in 1851 had still further increased.

I append a memorandum of the quantities of coffee exported from Ceylon since 1836:--

Quantity. Value.
cwt. £
1836 60,329
1837 34,164
1838 49,541
1839 41,863
1840 68,206
1841 80,584 196,048
1842 119,805 269,763
1843 94,847 192,891
1844 133,957 267,663
1845 178,603 363,259
1846 173,892 328,781
1847 293,221 456,624
1848 280,010 387,150
1849 373,593 545,322
1850 278,473 609,262
1851 339,744
---------
Total in 16 years 2,600,832
---------
Average 162,552 (Ceylon Almanac for 1853.)

The local export duty of two-and-a-half per cent., was abolished from 1st September, 1848.

From these figures it appears that, in a period of sixteen years, Ceylon exported two and a half millions of cwts. of coffee. The consumption of coffee, although for a long time stationary in Britain, now that adulteration is no longer legalised, is likely to increase as rapidly as in other parts of the world; and it appears pretty evident that, so long as anything like remunerative prices can be obtained, Ceylon will do her part in supplying the world with an article which occupies the position of a necessary to the poor as well as a luxury to the rich. The exports of coffee from this colony have, within a few thousands of hundredweights, been nearly quadrupled since 1843, when only 94,000 cwts. were sent away.

Dr. Rudolph Gygax, in a paper submitted to the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, offered remarks on some analyses, of the coffee of Ceylon, with suggestions for the applications of manures.

"Having had," he observes, "my attention drawn to an account of an
analysis of the Jamaica coffee berry, made by Mr. Herapath, the
Liverpool chemist, I have paid some little attention to the subject
of the coffee plant of this island, forming, as it does, so very
important a feature in the resources of this colony. The desire that
I thus felt for obtaining some information regarding the constituent
parts of the Ceylon tree and its fruit, was heightened by a
knowledge of the fact, that not a few of those coffee estates, which
once gave good promise of success, are now in a very precarious
state of production.

I much regret that the means at my disposal have not allowed me to
carry out any _quantative_ analysis, but the result of my labours
are sufficiently accurate for my present purpose. I have analysed
the wood and fruit of trees from two different localities, as well
as the ashes of some plants sent me from the Rajawella estate near
Kandy, and they all tend to bear out the result of Mr. Herapath's
inquiries. Placing the substances traced in the coffee plant in the
order in which they occur in the greatest quantity, they will stand
thus:--

Lime, potash, magnesia, phosphoric acid, other acids.

Of these lime is by far the most prominent, forming about 60 per
cent. of the whole.

I cannot help, therefore, arriving at the conclusion that, to
cultivate coffee with any degree of success, the first-named
substance must be present in the soil; or, if not present, must be
supplied to it by some process.

Now it is a singular fact that the rocks and soils of Ceylon are
greatly deficient in alkaline matter; and, taking this view of the
case, one no longer wonders that many estates cease to produce
coffee. That all, or nearly all the plantations did, in their first
year or two of bearing, produce liberally in fruit, may readily be
accounted for by the fact that the alkaline poverty of the soil was
enriched by the burning of the vast quantities of timber which lay
felled on all sides. Whilst this temporary supply lasted, all was
well with the planter. Heavy rains, and frequent scrapings of the
land with the mamotie, or hoe, soon dissipated this scanty supply,
and short crops are now the consequence.

But nature, ever bountiful, ever ready to compensate for all
deficiencies, has provided to our hands a ready means of remedying
this evil of the soil, by scattering throughout most parts of the
interior supplies of dolomitic limestone. The dolomite of Ceylon is
not pure, far from it, being mixed freely with apatite or phosphate
of lime. Even in this very accidental circumstance the coffee
planter is aided; for the phosphoric acid thus combined with the
limestone is the very substance required in addition. Some of the
finest properties in the island are situated on a limestone bottom,
and these no doubt will continue to yield abundant crops for a very
long period.

It has been urged against this opinion that in some districts where
coffee planting has proved a complete failure, dolomite is found
most abundantly; but I have very little doubt that the dolomite
here alluded to is only _magnesian_ limestone, and which is most
inimical to the coffee bush.

I am aware that already several manures have been tried on coffee
with varying degrees of success. Guano has, I believe, quite failed,
and is besides very costly. Cattle manure is said to be effective,
and no doubt it is, but it is a costly and troublesome affair.
Bones, ground fine, are now being tried, though they cannot but
prove most expensive, especially when imported.

A ton of bone dust contains of animal matter, 746 lbs,; phosphates
of lime, &c., 1,245 lbs.; carbonates of lime, &c., 249 lbs.

The virtue of bones lies in the phosphates far more than in the
animal matter, and thus their action on soils is felt for many years
after their application. The Singalese cultivators of paddy about
Colombo and Galle, appear to have been long aware of the fertilizing
effects of this kind of manure, and import the article in dhonies
from many parts of the coast: they bruise them coarsely before
applying them.

The partially decomposed husks of the coffee berry have been tried
for some years, and successfully, but they are difficult of
collection, and bulky to remove from one part of the estate to
another.

In Europe it would appear that little is yet known as to the causes
of the fertilising effects of oil cake: some suppose them to arise
mainly from the oil left by the crushing process, but this is not at
all clear. I do not, however, see that we must look for much
assistance from Poonac as a manure for coffee: for the cocoanut tree
it is doubtless most valuable, but we have yet to learn that, beyond
supplying so much more vegetable matter, it helps the action of the
soil on the roots of the coffee bush, which, after all, is what is
really required.

For the proper application of the dolomite to land as manure, it
should be freely burnt in a kiln, with a good quantity of wood, the
ashes of which should be afterwards mixed with the burnt lime, and
the whole exposed for several days to the action of the air,
sheltered of course from the weather. The mixture should be applied
just before the setting in of the monsoon rains: if the land be
tolerably level, the lime may be scattered broadcast on the surface,
though not quite near the plants. When the estate to be manured is
steep, then the substance to be applied should be placed in ridges
cut crossways to the descent of the slopes.

About one cwt. to the acre would be ample for most lands; some may,
however, require more. The contents of the husk pits might
advantageously be mixed up with the burnt lime, when a sufficiency
of it has been saved.

A planter in Ambagamoe states that he has tried the following remedy for that destructive scourge, the coffee-bug, with great success.

He applies saltpetre in a finely-powdered state, dusted over the tree when wet with rain or dew. The operation is inexpensive, as a very small quantity suffices, one cwt. being sufficient for nine or ten acres. It can be applied through a bamboo-joint covered with a perforated top, or any equally simple contrivance.

Messrs. Worms' are reported to have found coco-nut oil an effectual remedy.

To sum up the question of manures:--

Poonac, the marc or cake, after the coco-nut oil is expressed, is represented to be a stimulating manure; but is not durable. Lime is an useful application, especially to stiff soils, as the coffee tree contains 60 parts of lime. Bone-dust is an excellent fertiliser, but in Ceylon it is found that it cannot be applied at a less expense than £5 per acre. Cattle manure is the cheapest and most available. Guano does not seem suitable.

_Peeling, pulping, and winnowing._--The coffee-peeler, used for separating the bean from the pellicle, was formerly a large wheel revolving in a trough, the disadvantage of which was the flattening more or less of the bean when not thoroughly dry. A new machine has been recently introduced, the invention of Mr. Nelson, C.E., of the Ceylon iron works, by which this evil is obviated; its principle being not weight, but simple friction, of sufficient force to break the parchment at first, and, when continued, to polish the bean free from the husk. A very simple winnowing machine for cleaning the coffee as it comes out of the peeler, is attached. From the winnowing machine it runs into the separating machine, which sorts it into sizes, and equalizes the samples, by which a vast amount of time and manual labour are saved. The same principle is intended to be applied by Mr. Nelson to pulping, which will obviate the injury now inflicted by the grater upon the fresh berry. In spite of the greatest care numbers of the beans in a sample, on close examination, will be found scratched or pecked; and when the closest attention is not paid, or the person superintending the process is devoid of mechanical skill, the injury is proportionate.

The ordinary pulping-mill in use, consists of a cylinder of wood or iron, covered with sheet brass or copper, and punctured similarly to a nutmeg grater. This cylinder, technically called the barrel, runs upon a spindle, which turns a brass pick on each side of a frame. Immediately in a line with the centre upon which it turns, and placed vertical to each other, are two pieces of wood, frequently shod with iron of copper, called "the chops," placed about half an inch apart, or sufficient to allow the passage of "parchment" coffee between them. The lower chop is placed so close to the barrel, yet without contact, that all coffee must be stopped by it and thrown outwards. The upper chop is adjusted to that distance only which will permit the cherry coffee to come into contact with the barrel; but will not allow the berries to pass on till they have been denuded of their red epidermis by a gentle squeeze against its rough surface. The far greater portion of the pulps are separated by being carried past the lower chops upon the sharp points of the copper, and thrown out behind, and a few are left with the parchment coffee. As from the different sizes of the berries, and their crowding for precedence as they descend from the hopper above to the gentle embrace of the barrel and upper chop, some pass unpulped, the coffee as it comes from the lower chop is made to fall upon a riddle, which separates the unpulped cherries. These are put back again, and passed through a pulper with the upper chop set closer. The secret of working-appears to be the proper setting of the chops, and many have been the schemes proposed for reducing this to a certainty. Perhaps, after all, few plans are better than the old wedges, by tightening or loosening of which the chop is kept in the required position. Within the last few years, the machine has been considerably improved by being formed entirely of iron, cog-wheels being substituted in the place of straps and drums to move the riddle, and the riddle itself is now formed of two sieves, by which the chance of unpulped berries reaching the parchment is lessened. On some estates, water-wheels have been put up to drive several pulpers at one time, which otherwise would require from two to four men each to work them, but from the costly buildings and appurtenances which such machinery renders necessary, they are rare.

Although the operation of pulping is so simple, it is one which requires the machine to be set in such a way that the greatest quantity of work may be done, or, in other words, the smallest quantity of unpulped berries be allowed to pass through. On the other hand, the berries must not be subjected to injury from the barrel; for if the parchment skin is pricked through, the berry will appear, when cured, with an unsightly brown mark upon it. Several new coverings for barrels, instead of punctured copper, have been tried; among others, coir-cloth and wire net, but the old material is not as yet superseded. After pulping, the coffee in parchment is received into cisterns, in which it is, by washing, deprived of the mucilaginous matter that still adheres to it. Without this most necessary operation, the mucilage would ferment and expose the berry to injury, from its highly corrosive qualities.

As some portion of pulp finds its way with the coffee to the cistern, which, if suffered to remain would, by its long retention of moisture, lengthen the subsequent drying process, various methods have been adopted to remove it. One mode is to pass the coffee a second time through a sieve worked by two men; another to pick it off the surfaces of the cistern, to which it naturally rises.

In August, 1846, premiums were awarded by the Ceylon Agricultural Society to Messrs. Clerihew and Josias Lambert for the improvements they had introduced into coffee-pulpers, which, by their exertions, had been brought to great perfection. The first improved complete cast-iron pulper received in the island, was made for Mr. Jolly, from drawings sent home by Mr. Lambert to Messrs. B. Hick and Son, engineers. This pulper is one of the most perfect in every respect that has yet been brought into use, the disadvantages belonging to the old machine having been entirely remedied. The sieve crank has a double eccentric action. The chops are regulated by set screws, and the sieve suspended in a novel and secure manner, the whole combining strength and efficacy, together with an elegance of form, which will likewise be appreciated.

Mr. W. Clerihew, of Ceylon, submitted to the Great Exhibition a model of his approved apparatus for drying coffee (which has been patented in the name of Robert R. Banks, Great George Street, Westminster), and received the Isis gold medal for the same. The intention is to dry the vegetable and aqueous moisture of the berry. Before this is required, the coffee has previously undergone the process of pulping, or removal from the soft fleshy husk. Here let Mr. Clerihew describe the advantages for himself--

"When the coffee berry is picked from the tree it bears a closer
resemblance to a ripe cherry, both in size and appearance; and
several processes have to be gone through before the article known
in commerce as coffee is produced. In the first place, the pulpy
exterior of the cherry has to be removed by the process of pulping,
which separates the seed and its thin covering called the parchment,
from the husk. When the pulping process is completed, we have the
parchment coffee by itself in a cistern, and the next process
consists in getting rid of the mucilage with which it is covered."

Having become assured, both by experiment and by Liebig's reasoning, that the successive stages of decomposition were wholly ascribable to the action of the stagnant air which occupies the interstices between the beans, and taking into account that a mass of coffee presented a medium pervious to air, it occurred to Mr. Clerihew that it was possible, by means of fanners, working on the exhausting principle, so to withdraw air from an enclosed space as to establish a current of air through masses of coffee spread on perforated floors forming the top and bottom of that space. The plan he carried into execution at Rathgoongodde plantation in 1849. No sooner was the plan put in operation than, instead of stagnant air occupying the interstices of the beans and gradually acting on them, a stream of air was established and flowing through the mass of coffee, each bean of it became surrounded by a constantly renewed atmosphere of fresh air.

_Java_.--When Arabia enjoyed the exclusive monopoly of coffee, it could not be foreseen that one day the island of Java would furnish for the consumption of the world from 125 to 130 millions of pounds per annum. The cultivation was introduced by M. Zwaendenkroom, the Governor-General of Batavia, who obtained seeds from Mocha, in 1723. According to official statements the following are the exports.

In 1839 there were exported 46,781,729 kilogrammes, valued at 48 million florins. Eight years labor, 1833 to 1841, brought its produce of coffee from 12 million kilogrammes annually, up to 55 millions.

In 1846, the exports were 916,876 piculs, but, in 1850 they were only 14,801 piculs. The total coffee crop of Java was in 1850, 1,280,702 lbs.; in 1851, 1,436,171 lbs.; in 1852, 1,229,349 lbs.

1840 1841
Residences in which this produce has been
cultivated in 1840 and 1841 20 20
Number of families destined for the labor 470,673 453,289
Trees which have yielded a crop 916,193,894 216,085,600
Trees which have produced the average quantity
of a picul of 125 lbs. Dutch 280 248
Quantity of coffee furnished to the godowns
in piculs 706,258 877,444
Trees according to the reckoning made in the
month of March, 1841 and 1842 336,922,460 329,898,936

The comparative result of this table shows--1st. That, in the year 1841, coffee had been gathered from 20,000,000 more trees than the number in 1840, and that the crop had increased by 171,000 piculs.

2nd. That, in the month of March, 1842, there were above 7 millions less of coffee trees than in 1840. This diminution is merely nominal, seeing that these trees have served to replace those which by their small produce have to be suppressed in the lowlands of the residency of Baylen. On the contrary, the increase of trees, planted from 1839 to 1840, amount to very nearly the same number, of 7 millions.

3rd. That, in the season of 1842, there was planted nearly 20 millions of plants; of which 12 millions are to serve to replace the old trees, and 8 millions are destined to extend this culture. It is calculated that this island will very soon be in a condition to produce a million of piculs or 125 millions more of Dutch pounds of coffee. Previous to 1830, Java scarcely exported as much as 40 millions of pounds.

_Cultivation and Preparation of Coffee in Java_.--For the following valuable details I am indebted to M. de Munnick, the inspector of the agricultural department, Batavia, as contributed to my "Colonial Magazine" (vol. xi. p. 46).

_Soil and Situation_.--Elevated lands are found to be those best suited for the growth of coffee in Java. Land situated between 1,000 and 4,000 feet above the level of the sea may be generally said to be adapted to the cultivation of coffee. It must not be taken for granted that all ground of less elevation is unsuited. Suitable ground is to be found lower down, but the cultivation on it is more difficult; the tree gives less fruit, and the plant is less durable. Valleys lying between high mountains are more especially fit for coffee plantations, because the soil which is washed down from the heights affords fresh food continually to the lowlands; the valleys themselves are moist, since the hills surrounding them attract the rain; and they are shut out from severe winds by the same protecting enclosure. The soils best suited to the successful growth of coffee may be classed as follows:--

_Firstly_. Cleared forest lands, especially those in which the black leafy, or vegetable mould is found to considerable depth. These are the richest grounds, and will support the coffee plant for many years, and they are also cultivated with the least trouble.

_Secondly_. Dark brown soils, approaching to black, which, without having much clay in them, appear to the eye to have a mixture of coral. The greater the depth of this coral-like stratum, and of the reddish or deep yellowish soil, the better is the ground for coffee. This kind of land also has sufficient strength and substance to afford nourishment for many years to the plant; but it entails more trouble than the before mentioned soils, because the young plant does not so speedily strike root into it, and sometimes dies, so that provision has to be made against failures.

_Thirdly_. Reddish and loose ground, such as is generally found in the neighbourhood of volcanic lands. This kind is frequently found well adapted for coffee; it flourishes on such land luxuriantly, but does not last long, as the ground possesses less strength and nourishing substance.[6] By digging in different places we become better acquainted with the nature of the ground, but we may take it as a rule, that rich old forest land on which many larger trees are found, and plains covered with heavy underwood, most frequently offer eligible sites for coffee plantations.

Grounds in which loam is found, and stony soils, are unfit for coffee. But I do not mean by "stony soils" land on which many stones are lying, for on that very account it may be most suitable; but I mean land which shows a pebbly stratum just below the surface, or such as is of a porous, stony nature. In the choice of situation care must be taken to select that which is as much as possible protected against the south-east wind, because its dry influence is very injurious to the coffee plant, and also prevents the growth of the _Erythrina_ (known here locally as the Dadap tree) which is so necessary for its shade. Flat grounds, or gentle declivities, are better than steep slopes; yet the latter can be well employed if proper care is taken.

_Cultivation_.--After the ground has been cleared in the dry season--that is, after the bushes have been rooted out, the undergrowth burnt off, and the thickets removed--ploughing is commenced in September. When the ground has twice been deeply ploughed, the weeds and roots must be brought together with the rake and carefully burnt. The depth of the ploughing must be regulated by the nature of the ground. In all kinds of cultivation, deep ploughing is recommended, but in Java we ought not to plough deeper than the stratum of fertile soil, as a kind of subsoil may be wrought uppermost injurious to plants, and which, before it can become fertile, must for a year at least have been exposed to the atmosphere.

The ground having been turned up, should be left exposed for some days to throw off the vapor arising from it; and must then be again ploughed and cleared with the rake. After waiting for some days, it should be ploughed for the fourth and last time, and made as clean and friable as possible. In small plantations this is to be done with the spade, but on large estates the roller must be used. This roller consists of a heavy piece of round wood, eight or ten feet long, to which a pole is fastened in the middle to have oxen harnessed to it. It is drawn slowly over the ploughed land, and presses the clods to earth. To give it greater force, the driver sits or stands upon it.

Before the field has been properly ploughed and rolled in the above way, the middle of October will have arrived, and we then begin to open a path through the plantation from the highest to the lowest point, about two roods broad, and the whole of the land is then divided into separate parcels. Portioning off the estates into divisions of equal size is a system to be much recommended. By this means labor may be equally divided, superintended and inspected. Order and regularity, which are necessary in all things, are most especially required in cultivation on a large scale.

The size of these parcels is regulated by the nature of the estate. On flat or gently declining land they may be greater than on steep grounds, because, in order to prevent the washing away of the soil on precipitous land, the water must be led off by trenches, which of themselves make the divisions of land smaller. On flat ground the divisions may be each 625 square roods, each of which may contain, if planted--

Trees.
12 feet by 12 625
10 " 10 900
8 " 8 1406
6 " 6 2500

The distance between the coffee bushes cannot be definitely laid down, as it depends on the nature of the soil. On the most fertile forest lands twelve feet by twelve is a good distance. Only on low and meagre grounds, where the tree grows less luxuriantly and strong, can six feet by six be reckoned a proper distance.

Between the divisions a path should be left, one rood in breadth. Along the middle paths and by the side of the divisions drains must be cut, the former two feet in breath and depth, the latter one foot. The drains along the divisions must be cut in such a way as to conduct the rain-water to the larger drains which flank the middle paths. On precipitous ground, when the coffee is planted, small ridges should be raised between the rows, to prevent the rich earth from washing down in the heavy rains. The steeper the land is, the closer these ridges should be; and care should be taken to incline them, so as to break the descent, the direction of which they should in some degree follow. The first ridges may be made with the branches of the trees which have been felled, or with the rubbish cleared from the ground on the first raking of it.

_Placing the pickets._--When the ground has been worked and divided in the above manner, the pickets are placed. These are slips of bamboo one-and-a-half to two feet long. First--two long canes (which do not stretch like string), each one hundred feet long, are marked off in feet according to the distance at which the planting is to take place; heavy stakes are made fast to each end of them, by which they can be well secured on the ground. At the places where they are marked off in feet, strings are fastened so tightly that they cannot be displaced; and then the canes are laid down and well fixed in the ground, one in the length and the other in the breadth.

Picketing does not give much trouble; it ensures regular planting, and makes the daily inspection simple. The planting thus takes place in straight lines, which give an ornamental appearance, and afterwards renders the view over the whole plantation easy. At every place where a string has been tied, a picket is stuck in the ground; then the cane is removed to another place, and so on till all the estate is marked out by pickets. After the picketing, a hole is made with the spade at every mark; it should be a good foot broad and deep, and the earth inside should be made very fine and clear. The earth is now ready to receive the coffee plant, and the time has only to be waited for when the first rains fully begin.

_Nurseries_.--In the month of October, or earlier, if coffee trees are near at hand, nurseries must be prepared in the neighbourhood of the land about to be planted. This can be done in the ravines, or, if they are too far from the spot where the plants are wanted, pieces of ground most convenient can be selected. If the ravines are preferred, places must be chosen which are shaded by trees not prejudicial to the coffee plants. On ground where there is no trees, the nurseries may be covered, at the height of four feet, with leaves of jack (_Artocarpus integrifolia_), areca, or other palm trees, in a manner to admit the air.

The ground made loose and fine, coffee plants newly opening, or seeds only, are planted or sown at a distance of four inches square; 500 square roods will in this way furnish 648,000 plants, which are sufficient for an estate of 300,000 trees. Transplanting from nurseries is absolutely necessary in coffee cultivation, and the trouble it costs is always doubly repaid. Having a choice of plants, a person can be convinced he has taken none but healthy trees, and he proceeds therefore with a confidence of success. After the first year, all failures having been nearly replaced, the estate is fully planted, the trees are of regular growth, and no useless clearing is required--a thing which is always necessary in irregular plantations. It is easy also to pick the berries from the trees which are planted with regularity; the work goes on smoothly; and, when the estate has lived its time, it may be abandoned altogether, without leaving patches of living trees here and there, which renders superintendence so very difficult.

There should always be a plentiful supply of plants, to give an ample choice and to make up for failures. When plants are placed in the nurseries, they should not have more than two offshoots, or leaves, above each other; and when the ball plants are transplanted, they should not be higher than a foot, as large plants always give meagre trees.

At the end of November or beginning of December, if the nurseries are kept free from weeds, and, if necessary, occasionally watered, the plants will be about a foot high, and will have put forth 4 or 5 leaves; they are then just fit to be transplanted. Then, the ground is cloven with the spade, at a distance of an inch and a half round the stem of the plant, to about three inches deep; the plant, with the ball of earth adhering to it, is carefully lifted out of the ground, and the ball is wrapped in a jack, plantain, or other leaf, and tied to prevent the earth falling off; but, before the plants are thus taken from the ground, it must be moistened to make the earth adhesive.

_Planting the coffee trees_.--The plants, which, after the above operation are called "ball plants," are then placed in a bamboo wicker frame, and are carefully carried by two men to the place where they are to be put into the ground. They are then taken out of the frame and placed in the holes next to the pickets. The pickets are removed, and the plant is fixed upright; the leaf surrounding the ball is made loose, but not taken away; the planter presses the plant down with his hand and fills up the hole with fine loose earth, and the business of planting the coffee tree is finished.

_Planting the Dadap tree_.--This is a species of Erythrina, probably _E. indica_, or _E. arborescens_; that used for the purpose in the West Indies is _E. Corallodendrum_. In Java, as soon as the coffee is planted, the operation of planting the dadap tree is commenced. The best sort of dadap comes from Serp or Mienyak; it is smooth and broad-leaved, and shoots up quickly. Thick young stems are chosen, about three feet long, and the lower part is pointed off. If the dadap is moist or juicy, it should be cut twenty-four hours before it is planted. The dadap is planted uniformly by measuring the cane in the same way as the coffee itself. Between every two rows of coffee one of dadap is planted, not on a line with the coffee plants, but alternately with them; thus, if the coffee is eight feet by eight, the dadap is sixteen by sixteen. The dadap is planted to the depth of a foot, with somewhat of a westerly inclination, in order that the morning sun may fall on a larger surface of the stick. The ground must be stiffly trodden round the bottom of the stem, and the upper part of it should have some kind of leaf tightly bound around it to prevent the sap from escaping. When the coffee and dadap plants have thus been put out, every fifth day the young plantation should be carefully inspected, and a picket placed wherever there is a failure, as a mark to the planter that a new plant is there required. This operation of replacing failures is carried on all through the wet season, and the dadaps which have not succeeded are at the same time changed.

_Keeping up the estate_.--In the first six months after planting, the estate should be cleaned each fortnight with the hoe; the ground being well moved and the weeds taken out. Those weeds which are too close to the plants to be removed in this manner, must be pulled out with the hand. When the plantation is thus wholly or partially cleaned, the earth must be taken off the weeds, and they must be collected and thrown on the pathways.

The weeding in this manner gives at first a great deal of trouble, but it is most advantageous in the long run, as the weeds are thus easily kept down.

Great care must be taken to do away with an old custom of burying the weeds in large holes on the estates. It conduces to bad and slovenly habits, such as cutting off the tops of the weeds by wholesale, and thus giving the plantation an appearance of cleanliness, whilst it, in fact, is as dirty as ever. This is soon discovered by the weeds showing themselves again above ground in a very few days, and even if they rot under ground, they breed insects which are very hurtful to the bushes, and the seeds vegetate.

After the first six months, this weeding will be sufficient if it takes places once a month, but this must be persevered in till the third year, when there may be a much greater interval between the weeding. When the trees are coming to full growth, the hoe should be less frequently used in cleaning; the hand must be used to the full extent to which the branches reach, as the roots of the tree spread to a like distance, and if they are injured the growth of the tree is prejudiced.

The well-being of an estate chiefly depends on frequent cleaning of the plantation in the beginning. The idea of some persons that cleaning in the dry season is of little consequence, must be given up, as it is principally at that very time that it is extremely profitable to remove and clear the ground round the trees in their growth. In the first place, this destroys the weeds which take the nourishment away from the trees; secondly, the ground is rendered more open to receive the slight showers and dews which moisten it, and to benefit by the influence of the air; the roots are thus considerably refreshed. The dew falling on ground which has been recently moved, penetrates at once into it, and does good to the plant; but if it falls on the weeds, the first rays of the sun absorb it, and deprive the tree of this source of refreshment.

The dadap is to be taken care of whilst clearing goes on; it must be cropped so as to cause it to grow upright, and to throw as much shade as possible on the coffee without pressing upon it.

In warm fertile ground, where the coffee plant grows rapidly, the trees should be topped in the third year; but this should be done sparingly, and as a general measure it is not to be recommended; it should be resorted to only as a means to prevent the too rapid growth of the tree, or its running up to a point. Topping and taking off suckers are both necessary on meagre soils, where the trees run much to wood; and it prevents the trees being injured in the picking season, which often occurs without this precaution. The top or middle stem is broken off at a height of six or seven feet, but care must be taken not to tear the tree; when the top shoots out again it must be cropped a second time, and it is seldom necessary to do this more than twice. The cropping causes the tree to shoot out in breadth, and to push forth a greater number of sprigs, and good strong ones.

_Picking coffee_.--When the estate becomes productive, it must in the picking season, just before the work begins, be kept exceedingly clear of weeds, and be even swept clean with brooms, in order that the berries which fall off may be gathered up.

The picking should take place under proper superintendence, the trees be picked row by row, and care taken that each berry is plucked off separately, and not a heap together, by which the trees are torn and the first offshoots prevented. In picking high trees, light ladders should be used, made out of two or three bamboos tied together.

_Customary preparation of the berry in the pulp_.--When the coffee is picked and brought into the village, it is piled up in a heap in the open air, and left in that manner for twenty-four hours. Thus heaped up it gets warm, and this creates a certain fermentation of the juice which is in the berry. That fermentation promotes the drying and loosens the silvery pellicle which is attached to the bean inside the parchment, and which cannot be entirely got rid of in any other way. Coffee which still retains that pellicle is called in trade "grey coffee," and is lower priced than good clean sorts. After the fermentation, the coffee is spread out in rather thick layers, and turned over twice a day. If it rains during this first spreading out, the coffee does not require to be sheltered, as the washing causes the juicy substance to evaporate, and this accelerates the drying afterwards.

In proportion as the coffee becomes dryer, the thickness of the layer must be reduced, and the turning over must be more frequent till the coffee is quite dry outside and the pulp has become hard.

Then the coffee is laid out on drying floors, which can be easily and speedily covered in rainy or damp weather, and is dried by the powerful heat of the sun.

This system of drying in the pulp requires six weeks or two months, as it is advisable not to be over hasty with drying.

When the coffee is entirely dry, it is either at once pounded or placed in the stores to await that operation. In order to know if the coffee be sufficiently dry, take a handful of it and shut your hand close; shake it to your ear, and listen if the beans rattle freely in the pulp. Or try them by biting the berry, and see if the bean and pulp are both brittle and crisp, which shows that the fruit is dry enough.

_Preparation of the coffee in the parchment, or the West India system_.--Only sound and fully ripe beans can be prepared in the West India manner. In picking, therefore, all unripe, green, or unsound beans must be taken away to dry in the pulp. As soon as the coffee is brought in, it must be pulped. This operation is performed by means of small peeling mills. These mills consist of two horizontal wooden cylinders rubbing on a plank; they are covered with hoop-iron, and set in motion by a water-wheel. The coffee is driven under the cylinder, and kept constantly moist; by being turned through the mill, the pulp is so bruised that the bean in the parchment falls from it into the bamboo open frame, which is placed in front of the mill. The coffee is then pressed with the hand, and falls through the frame into a basket. The pulp, and beans not rid of the pulp, remain on the frame; the first is cleared away, the rest passes a second time into the mill, and this operation is continued till all the coffee is stripped of the pulp, and the parchment beans are in the basket. When the parchment coffee is thus separated from the outer skin, it is thrown into the washing troughs, and remains there for twenty-four hours; this drains from it the slimy substance adhering to it. After being thus steeped, it is washed with pure water two or three times in the basket, so that it becomes quite free from slimy matter. The parchment coffee is then spread out on drying frames, and exposed for six or eight days to the heat of the sun, till the outside is perfectly dry. To do this equally it must be stirred about every hour. These frames, which serve also to dry the coffee in the pulp, are made as follows:--A bamboo roof is set up, resting on four wooden pillars, and sloping considerably; it is covered closely with reeds; its length is ten feet, its breadth six feet; the pillars are from nine to ten feet high; a wooden framework is attached to this, about thirty feet long, or three times the length of the space covered by the roof. On this frame are brought out three platforms, one above the other, which are pushed out by means of little rollers under them; they are ten feet long by six broad, and six inches deep. The borders are of wood, and the bottom of platted bamboo. In rainy weather, or when the drying cannot go on, the three platforms are pushed under the covered space. These drying places are set up near the overseer's dwelling, where they stand free, and are not shaded by trees or buildings. After this first drying on platforms, the parchment coffee is again dried inside the house, and bamboo huts are for this purpose erected on each side of the outhouse of the planters. These huts have trays, divided into two or three compartments, one above the other, to keep the coffee separate, according to the time of its having been picked. The parchment coffee is spread out as thin as possible, and turned over with a small wooden rake every hour. In proportion to the dryness of the weather, from one to two months are required to dry the coffee fully. In drying inside the houses, the greatest care must be taken to prevent heating the coffee; this is the great object of the West Indian system, as such heating is very prejudicial. On this account the huts in which the platforms are placed must be very airy, so that the wind may have good play among the trays, on which the coffee must be thinly spread and frequently turned.

_Pounding_.--Coffee in the pulp, as well as that in the parchment, must, before being pounded, be exposed for some hours to the sun to make it crisp and hard; but it must be allowed to cool again before the pounding begins, or the beans will be liable to be broken.

The pounding is done in small baskets of a conical form, two feet high, at the top eighteen inches in diameter, and at the bottom one foot. These baskets are, up to one-third of their height, thickly woven round with coir, and fastened on the ground between four thick bamboo poles, and with the bottom half an inch in the ground itself. The coffee is pounded by small quantities at a time with light, wooden pestles; the baskets must not be more than half full. When the coffee is sufficiently pounded, the basket is lifted from between the poles and the beans are thrown into sieves, on which it is cleaned from skin, and white, black, or broken beans. According to the West Indian system, the coffee must now be instantly put in bags, to preserve its greenish colour, which is very peculiar. If the green coffee is not instantly sent to the packing stores to be bagged, it must be put up in a very dry place, and be turned over once every day, to prevent heating, which damps and discolors the berry.

Coffee is grown to some extent in Celebes--the average crop being from 10,000 to 12,000 piculs of 133 English pounds. The production has rather fallen off than increased during the last few years. The whole of the coffee grown must be delivered by the inhabitants to the government exclusively, at twelve copper florins per picul. It is much prized in the Netherlands, and maintains a higher price in the market than the best Java coffee. As the treatment of the product in Java differs wholly from that which is in vogue in Celebes, and this, in our eyes, is much inferior, I know not whether the higher price is ascribable to the name, or to an intrinsic superiority in quality. It is certain that this cultivation is susceptible of much improvement, and might be advanced to a much higher condition.

From tables given by M. Spreeuwenberg ("Journal of the Indian Archipelago," vol. ii. p. 829) of the quantity of coffee delivered from each district of this island, for the years 1838 to 1842, it appears that the average annual delivery of coffee was 1,288,118 lbs.

Of the production of Sumatra I have no details, but a very fair proportion is grown there--about five million pounds.

_Production of America and the West Indies_.--The cultivation of the coffee plant is largely carried on in South and Central America and the West India Islands.

Its culture has greatly increased within the last few years in Venezuela, particularly in the valleys and on the sides of the hills. The exports from La Guayra, in 1833, were about twelve millions of pounds, being nearly double the quantity exported in 1830. The price there is about ten dollars the 100 lbs., which is still too high to enable it to enter into competition with the produce of Brazil or Cuba.

The total produce of coffee in Venezuela in 1839 was 254,567 quintals. The quintal is about 10 lbs. less than the English cwt.

_La Guayra_.--The exports of coffee from this port in 1796, were 283 quintals.

Quintals.
1843 164,066
1844 141,934
1845 134,585
1846 175,346
1847 130,671
1850 179,537

The exports of coffee from La Guayra have been declining within the past few years; the shipments were but 153,901 quintals in 1851, and only 124,623 in 1852.

Caracas coffee ranks in our market with good ordinary St. Domingo.