the Coffee-Tree. The flowers, which are produced in clusters at the root of the leaves, are of a pure white, and have a very grateful odour. 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 eighteen inches long and ten or twelve in diameter. These movable rollers are made to approach a third, which is fixed, and which is called the chops. Above the rollers is a hopper, in which is put the coffee, 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 its form after it has undergone this operation, being flat on the one side and round on the other. From this machine it falls into a brass 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 trundle by a mule or horse. In passing over the coffee it takes off the parchment, or thin skin, which 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 produced 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 and the West Indies. It is also raised in botanic gardens in several parts of Europe. 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 feet deep. If left to themselves, they would, as already observed, rise to the height of sixteen or eighteen feet; 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; and 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, they 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 latter soil it languishes for some time and then dies; in the former, its roots, which seldom fail to strike between stones, obtain nourishment, and keep the tree alive and fruitful for thirty 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 so reduced that it is not fit for any kind of culture; and unless he be 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.