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Show 908 COFFEE TREE. COFFEE TREE. of intro. the seeds. Boerhaave then concludes, that the merit rality andlibe care the to due is ducing this rare tree into Europe of Witsen alone. order to In the year 1714 the magistrates of Amsterdam, in France, of king XIV. Lewis to pay a particular compliment ly aud careful tree, rare this of plant presented to him an elegant e fromth ed defend and water, by go to up judiciously packed weather bya curious machine covered with glass. Theplant was about five feet high, and an inch in diameter in the stem, andwasin full foliage, with both green and ripe fruit. It was viewed in the river, with great attention andcuriosity, byseyeral members of the Academyof Sciences, and was afterwards conducted to the royal garden at Marly, under the care of M. de Jussien, the king’s professor of botany, who had the year before written a memoir, printed in the History of the Academyof Sciences of Paris in the year 1713, describing the characters of this genus, together with an elegant figure of it, taken from a smaller plant, which he had received that year from M. Pancras, burgomaster of Amsterdam, and director of the botanical garden there. In 1718 the Dutch colony at Surinam began first to plant coffee; and in 1722 M. de la Motte Aigron, governor of Cayenne, having business at Surinam, contrived, by an artifice, to bring away a plant from thence, which in the year 1725 had produced many thousands. In 1727 the French, perceiving that this acquisition might be of great advantage in their other colonies, conveyed to Martinico some of the plants; from whence it most probably spread to the neighbouring islands ; for in the year 1732 it was cultivated in Jamaica, and an act passed to encourage its growth in that island. Thus was laid the foundation of a most extensive and beneficial trade to the European settlements in the West Indies. An Account of the Culture of the Coffee Tree in Arabia Felix: extracted from La Roque’s Voyage. He relates, that the coffee tree is thereraised from seed, which theysowin nurseries, and plant them out as they have occasion 209 necessary they should be constantly watered, in order to produce and ripen the fruit. For that purpose, when they remove or transplant the tree, they make atrench three feet wide, and five feet deep, which they line or cover with stones, that the water may the more readily sink deep into the earth with which the trench is filled, in order to preserve the moisture from evaporating. Whentheyobserve that there is a good deal of fruit upon the tree, andthat it is nearly ripe, they turn off the water fromthe roots, to lessen that succulency in the fruit which too much moisture would occasion. In places much exposed to the south they plant their coffee trees in regularlines, sheltered by a kind of poplar tree, which extends its branches oneveryside to a great distance, and affords avery thick shade. Without such precaution they suppose the excessive heat of the san would parch aad dry the blossoms so that they would not be succeeded by any fruit. Insituations not so much exposed to the sun, this defence is not necessary. Whentheyperceive the fruit come to maturity, they spread cloths under the trees, which they shake, and the ripe fruit drops readily *; they afterwards spread the berries upon mats, and expose themto the sun until they are perfectly dry; after which they break the husk with large heavy rollers, made either of wood or stone. Whenthe coffee is thus cleared of its husk it is again dried in the sun ; for, unless it is thoroughly dried, there is danger of its heating on board the ship. It is then winnowed with a large fan ; for if it is not well cleaned and dried it sells for a much lowerprice. The Manner of preparing and drinking Coffee among the Arabians. From the same Author. The Arabians, when they take their coffee off the fire, imme- diately wrap the vessel in a wet cloth, which fines the liquor ins stantly, makes it cream at top, and occasions a more pungent * This circumstance deseryes the particular attention of the West India as it turns planter, who, I am told, is accustomed to gatherhis coffee as soon red, beforeit changes to a dark red colour, and begins to shrivel; whereas the Arabians wait for those tokens which showthefull maturity of the Mr. Miller in his Dictionary mentions, that in somestoves in Eng- They choose for their plantations a moist, shady situation, on fruit, some eminence, or at the foot of the mountains, and take great care to conduct from the mountains little rills of water, in small gutters or channels, to the roots of the trees; for it is absolutely landcoffee is raised of a better quality than the best Mocha coffee that can be procured in this country; which maylikewise be owing to gathering the fruit only whenit is thoroughlyripe. Pp |