The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1857-04-02

required for the benefit Of the remainder of
the human family TO run to waste. "Man-
'fest Destiny" will one day turn her eagle
eye to the solution Of this problem, which,
it fairly met, would not lie difficult: and
having the highest respect for that mysteri
Gus power, we lay our private conjccturcs
at her feet, and appeal to her decision,
with rs much confidence as did Par, 10
C;rSar's X "
Among the staple productions of Mica
fag"". not one arises to greater Perfection or
could 10 cultivated to more advantage than
coffee.
This plant is beautiful ever green,
growing from twenty to TWENTY-FIVE feet
high, and is covered in due season with
clusters of flowers, four or five i'm each
cluster, which cxllale the most agreeable
aroma.
The berries in which the coffee seeds arc
enclosed, are round and Of dark red hue
u little less than an inch in diameter. and
when ripe possessing Il flavor not unplcas.
ant. The seeds are enclosed in thin fila
ment or bag, which separates them from
the ge'atin"us pulp of the berry, and this
hlamcnt must he left around them until aE
ter separation from the pulp, and they have
been Thoroughly dried.
The plant is raised from the berry, which
must he fully ripe and sown Immediately
after it has been gathered Two months
after sowing, the young plarts arc set out in
rows. AMI at distances suited To- the soil in
which they are intended to grow. In the
low, rich lands, where the tree a,toius lis
greatest size, the due proportion would
TIC about four hundred trees to the
acre; while on mountains, or shelving
scopes, six hundred to the acre NIGH, he
safely set. The cultivation after this is easy.
requiring nothing more than ;lt the soil
i'c kept free from weeds; in the second year
the tree will commence To bear, but canmot
he considered us having arrived at its full
maturity until the fourth.
II is generally asserted that the Arabian
coffee is superior in quality to that produced
III any other part of the world; and willie
c"nrcling the fact that it may he so, we al
together deny that the superiority is inhc.
rent in the coffee. With equal care and
attention. the average crop of Nicaragua
would far snrpass it and tie crop Of tile
West Indies w"ul'! fully equal it, If the
planters there would look more to the
quality and less 10 the quantity Of The
berry.
For the commercial superiority Of Ara
h'an coffee. three reasons may bc rightly
assigned: First, the soil, Which is .lrv, and
hot, and light; conditions essential to the
perfect Development of the berry. Second
Iy, the Arabian tree is allowe. to grow as
nature made il, whereas, III the West Indies
and elsewhere, it is Il common practice to
trim nnl train the branches into a denscr
growth; by this means the tree occupips
less space and produces more frui, hut the
rays OF the sun are excluded, from all the
inner berries, which must consequently re
main unriprncd. Thirdly. in Arabia the
fruit is not gathered until so perfectly ripe
that il falls down when the tree IS shaken.
after which the seeds are removed to n sit.
uhlion where they can he perfectly dried in
the shade. "n mats Of u peculiar texture
adapted t" draw out and inLiLc all supcr.
tlunlls moisture.
Now, in the West In,lies this last opera
ito" cannot be perfectly performed, for the
air, though hot. is damp, on'l the seeds can
not he dried for expectation except in ovens.
or under the rays of the sun. 10y both or
either Of which processes the finer essence
Of the favor is cxl,alcd. Bcsi.les, though,
the planters of the West InIies arc aware
from long experience, that coffee grown on
II light soil, and OIL dry and elevated slopes
produces 10y TAR the finest favored berries,
they also know that the berries so grown
are small, and that tree so situated will
produce less than half what it would II
planted III the moist rich loam of the lower
valleys. They. therefore, under the inf]u-
ence Of sl,"rt-sighted. policy, 60 in for
quantity rather than quality, and find it to
their interest. as they conceive, to raise the
l"rgest crop. however fiat and insipid, from
the richest soil they can devote to such
purpose. As proof that quality would
p"y them better than 4tpere quantity in the
long run. II they woulI only study it, we
mag menti"n that the coffee grown on the
P"r' Royal mou"tainsof Jamaica commands
"a higher price in European markets oven
tIiap iI,e very finest brands Of Mocha.
: Ia fact. we may take it as a rule, that in
coffse the favor holds an inv"Ise ratio to
tile hulk :. and throughout, Nicaragua the
operation Of ibis natural law may he oh.