the COFFEE-TREE. See Botany Index. The flowers, which are produced in clusters at the root of the leaves, are of a pure white, and have a very grateful odor. The fruit, which is the only useful part, resembles a cherry. When it comes to be of a deep red, it is gathered for the mill, in order to be manufactured into those coffee-beans now so generally known. The mill is composed of two wooden rollers furnished with iron plates 18 inches long, and 10 or 12 in diameter. These moveable rollers are made to approach a third which is fixed, and which they call the chops. Above the rollers is a hopper, in which they put the coffee, from whence it falls between the rollers and the chops, where it is stripped of its first skin, and divided into two parts, as may be seen by the form of it after it has undergone this operation; being flat on the one side and round on the other. From this machine it falls into a brafs sieve, where the skin drops between the wires, while the fruit slides over them into baskets placed ready to receive it: it is then thrown into a vessel full of water, where it soaks for one night, and is afterwards thoroughly washed. When the whole is finished, and well dried, it is put into another machine called the peeling-mill. This is a wooden grinder, turned vertically upon its trendle by a mule or horse. In passing over the coffee it takes off the parchment, which is nothing but a thin skin that detaches itself from the berry in proportion as it grows dry. The parchment being removed, it is taken out of this mill to be put into another, which is called the winnowing-mill. This machine is provided with four pieces of tin fixed upon an axle, which is turned by a slave with considerable force; and the wind that is made by the motion of these plates clears the coffee of all the pellicles that are mixed with it. It is afterwards put upon a table, where the broken berries, and any filth that may remain among them, are separated by negroes, after which the coffee is fit for sale.

The coffee-tree is cultivated in Arabia, Persia, the East Indies, the Isle of Bourbon, and several parts of America. It is also raised in botanic gardens in several parts of Europe. Prince Eugene's garden at Vienna produced more coffee than was sufficient for his own consumption. It delights particularly in hills and mountains, where its root is almost always dry, and its head frequently watered with gentle showers. It prefers a western aspect, and ploughed ground without any appearance of grass. The plants should be placed at eight feet distance from each other, and in holes twelve or fifteen inches deep. If left to themselves, they would rise to the height of 16 or 18 feet, as already observed; but they are generally stinted to five, for the convenience of gathering their fruit with the greater ease. Thus dwarfed, they extend their branches so, that they cover the whole spot round about them. They begin to yield fruit the third year, but are not in full bearing till the fifth. With the same infirmities that most other trees are subject to, these are likewise in danger of being destroyed by a worm or by the scorching rays of the sun. The hills where the coffee-trees are found have generally a gravelly or chalky bottom. In the leaf, it languishes for some time and then dies; in the former, its roots, which seldom fail of striking between stones, obtain nourishment, and keep the tree alive and fruitful for 30 years. This is nearly the period for plants of the coffee-tree. The proprietor, at the end of this period, not only finds himself without trees, but has his land reduced that it is not fit for any kind of culture; and unless he is so situated, that he can break up a spot of virgin land, to make himself amends for that which is totally exhausted by the coffee-trees, his loss is irreparable.

The coffee produced in Arabia is found so greatly to excel that raised in the American plantations or elsewhere, that the cultivation of the tree is now but seldom practised in any of the British colonies. Large plantations of this kind were formerly made in some of of them; and it was proposed to the parliament to give a proper encouragement for cultivating this commodity there, so as to enable the planters to undersell the importers from Arabia. Accordingly, there was an abatement of the duty payable on all coffee imported from our colonies in America, which at that time was supposed to be sufficient encouragement for this kind of commerce; but the inferiority of the American coffee to the Arabian hath almost ruined the project. Mr Miller proposes some improvements in the method of cultivation. According to him, the trees are planted in too moist a soil, and the berries are gathered too soon. They ought, he says, to be permitted to remain on the trees till their skins are shrivelled, and they fall from the trees when shaken. This will indeed greatly diminish their weight, but the value of the commodity will thereby be increased to more than double of that which is gathered sooner. In Arabia, they always shake the berries off the trees, spreading cloths to receive them, and only take such as readily fall at each time. Another cause may be the method of drying the berries. They are, he observes, very apt to imbibe moisture, or the flavour of any thing placed near them. A bottle of rum placed in a closet, in which a canister of coffee-berries closely stopped, was standing on a shelf at a considerable distance, in a few days so impregnated the berries as to render them very disagreeable. Some years ago, a coffee-ship from India had a few bags of pepper put on board, the flavour of which was imbibed by the coffee, and the whole cargo spoiled. For these reasons coffee-berries should never be brought over in ships freighted with rum, or laid to dry in the houses where sugars are boiled or rum distilled. When they are fully ripe, they should be taken off when the trees are perfectly dry, and spread upon cloths to dry in the sun, carrying them every evening under cover, to prevent the dews or rain from falling on them. When perfectly dry, they should have their outer skins beaten off, and then be carefully packed up in cloths or bags three or four times double.