the Coffee-Tree, is a native of Ethiopia and Abyssinia; but it was in Arabia that it first became an object of interest and importance to the civilized world. The plant is an evergreen, and is accurately described by La Roque as follows:

"The coffee-tree is from six to twelve feet high; the stem ten, twelve, and fifteen inches in circumference. When it is full grown, it much resembles in figure our apple-trees of eight or ten years' standing. The lower branches ordinarily bend when the tree begins to grow old, and extend themselves into a round form, somewhat like an umbrella; and the wood is so very limber and pliable, that the ends of the longest branches may be bent down within two or three feet of the earth. The bark is whitish, and somewhat rough; its leaf is much like that of the citron-tree. It continues green all the year, and the tree is never without leaves, which are ranged almost opposite on each side of the bough, and at small distances from each other. Nothing is more singular in its kind than its productions; for almost in all seasons of the year, blossoms, and green and ripe fruit, may be seen on the same tree at the same time. When the blossom falls off, there remains in its room, or rather springs from each blossom a small fruit, green at first, but which becomes red as it ripens, and is not unlike a large cherry, and is very good to eat. Under the flesh of this cherry, instead of the stone, is found the bean or berry we call coffee, wrapped round in a fine thin skin. The berry is then very soft, and of a disagreeable taste; but as the cherry ripens, the berry in the inside grows harder, and the dried up fruit being the flesh or pulp of it, which was before eatable, becomes a shell or pod of a deep brown colour. The berry is now solid, and of a clear transparent green. Each shell contains one berry, which splits into two equal parts. When the fruit is sufficiently ripe to be shaken from the tree, the husks are separated from the berries, and are used in Arabia by the natives; while the berries are exported for the European markets."

From Arabia the plant was taken by the Dutch about the year 1690 to Java, whence its culture spread slowly amongst the islands of the Indian archipelago. In the early part of the eighteenth century it found its way to the West India islands. The plant is now common in every botanical garden of Europe, and there are few private conservatories without good specimens of the tree. When cultivated with a view to trade, it is most productive on hills and mountains, where its root is almost always dry, and its head frequently watered with gentle showers. It prefers a westerly exposure and a loose gravelly soil, but freed from weeds and grass. The plants are inserted at distances of six or eight feet asunder, and in holes from twelve to eighteen inches deep. If left to themselves they would rise to the height of sixteen or eighteen feet; but in extensive plantations the trees are topped and stunted to about five feet, for the convenience of having the fruit within reach of the gatherer. Thus dwarfed, they extend their branches until they cover the whole spot round about them. They begin to yield fruit the third year. By the fifth, sixth, or seventh year, according to the nature of the soil, they are at full bearing, and continue to bear for upwards of twenty years.

It has but recently come to the knowledge of Europeans that the leaves of the coffee-plant contain the same essential principle for which the berries are so much valued, and that in the Dutch island of Sumatra in the Indian archipelago the natives scarcely use anything else, and greatly prefer a beverage made from the leaf to the berry itself. The leaves undergo a process of curing similar to tea, and they possess all the virtues of either tea or coffee. This may be looked upon as the introduction of a new element amongst the innocent and beneficial necessaries of life; for whilst the culture of the coffee plant for the sake of its fruit is limited to particular soils and high temperatures, the tree produces leaves in abundance anywhere within the tropics where the soil is sufficiently fertile. This extensive habitat, added to its nutritive qualities and freedom from any deleterious principle, points out the coffee plant as the best adapted for general consumption of all the productions affording caffeine.

The Coffee Berry (for which the plant has hitherto been chiefly cultivated), when ripe, is cured in the West Indies, in Java, Ceylon, the East Indies, and South America, by a process called pulping and washing. In Arabia, Persia, &c., it is neither pulped nor washed, but cured in the ancient fashion by the labour of the hands and the action of the sun. The pulping process is performed by machinery, which greatly expedites the work; but practical experienced West India planters admit, that this process is in some important respects inferior to the oriental mode. "A manifest preference," says one, "is given in the leading European markets to coffee which has gone through the pulping and washing process; but, strange to say, the consumers of this beverage are totally ignorant of the fact, that the produce which is cured in the pulp furnishes a stronger decoction than an equal quantity of the same coffee which has undergone the other process. The mucilaginous substance which is washed off by the pulping process is absorbed by the bean when cured in the pulp. This gives strength to the produce, and enhances its aromatic flavour." Before the berry is available for use, it undergoes a process called roasting. The valuable properties of coffee depend very much on the manner in which this process is performed. For the most recent and intelligent dissertation on this point, consult Dr Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and Mines, last edition, vol. i., p. 456.